Stargate: Dark Frontier Season 1
by Lone-ranger1
Summary: Atlantis is 600 Million LY from Earth, having fled the Wraith using the Wormhole Drive. In this strange new galaxy, they've had curious finds and stranger encounters. The Rogues, Travelers, and Refugees will have to try and survive on this Dark Frontier.
1. Welcome to Saudade Dr Beckett

_**Stargate: Dark Frontier**_

Continuation fic for **Stargate: Universal Sin** Alternate ending to Atlantis.

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**A/N: **Before you read the story itself, a few advisories.

1.) Dark Frontier is a Continuation Fic from Universal Sin. You can find Universal Sin on my Profile Page or the C2 archive.

2.) If you've read Universal Sin and are reading Dark Frontier now, be advised, the first half of the first season is much slower than the rest of the story. It is also much shorter as a result.

3.) The story builds upon arcs and while episodic, has an underlying story which builds similar to how B5 or DS9 did. Episodes 1-6 is a slow building arc which is a recovery from the events of Universal Sin, Episode 7 begins the more action/adventure aspect, building to the mid-season three parter which brings us back to what we know and love.

4.) Due to Fanfiction . net's new formatting changes, some episodes may not be formattered correctly with page/scene breaks. Please keep this in mind as the entire site was affected.

5.) The first half season is a little rough around the edges as I was - and continue to - learn how to write to a higher quality. By the mid-season three parter, the quality shoots up and keeps on going up. Please keep this in mind as you read.

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_**Series Premiere – Episode 1 **_

_**Welcome to Saudade Dr Beckett.

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**_

_16 Days in Hoag's Object

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_

**Teyla Emmagen:** _"Have I said something amusing?"_

**Carson Beckett:** _*Laughs uncontrollably*_

**Laura Cadman:** _*Walks up* "Uhh okay… Did I miss something?"_

**Teyla Emmagen:** _"I mentioned his hippopotamus oath and he's been laughing ever since."_

**Laura Cadman:** _"Uhh that's Hippo__cratic__ Oath… a Hippopotamus is a… big… fat and hungry animal that eats these little white balls."_

_

* * *

_

"_You shall assist me… I will not ask again." _

_Carson shook his head, but his voice was strained. "No… no I won't help you…"_

_Michael growled softly, and motioned to one of his hybrids. "Bring her…"_

_The Hybrid wordlessly moved over and dragged a crying young woman into the cell where Carson was. She was crying and looked traumatized._

_Michael hissed softly and used the back of his fingers to caress the woman's face. "Assist me… or she dies before your eyes…"_

_Carson hesitated; the look the woman gave him chilled him to the bone…

* * *

_

"_Hold him up! Come on! Get him on the gurney!"_

Carson groaned and tried to open his eyes, The female voice was hardly recognizable, but the sudden sharp pain in his left butt cheek quickly got him alert. "_Ooo-ooh! Bloody…!"_ The lights were bright, and Carson felt almost drunk as he swayed around. _"…Je-Jen…"_

"_The shot should start working right away… maybe an hour or two of rest and he'll be back to normal."_

Another voice, this one male and deep. "_He's been in there for almost 3 weeks Rey. You'd think he's as 'rested' as he could take."_

Carson disagreed, his muscles felt so terribly sore and even with his eyes open he couldn't make anything out. His throat was dry as well and unable to say anything.

Another voice, this one recognizable. "_He looks like hell… it's a good thing Jennifer put him in there when she did… I'll stay with him sir… he should wake up to a face he knows."_

"_Agreed… But I'm going to need you at sixteen-hundred to go to the mainland with us to explore that outpost. Drake's busy doing repairs to one of the towers and I want someone with engineering knowledge."_

"_Technically I only know how to blow stuff up… not necessarily put it together, but sure thing, sir."_

Laura… even without the constant explosions around her Carson could recognize her man was Sheppard though, unmistakable with his peculiar drawl.

Carson didn't really feel much else though, and he drifted into a fugue state that blocked out everything.

* * *

"_Why doncha just kill me then? If I'm really such a hindrance."_

_Michael growled, and he turned a menacing glare to Carson. "Watch your tongue good Doctor… I may have to remove it."_

_Carson quickly shut up, and cursing himself, prayed once more that his friends could hurry up and find him to take him home.

* * *

_

"Carson?"

The blurry vision was beginning to go away, and slowly consciousness seemed more like what Carson was feeling.

"Carson?"

Alive… that was a bit of an overstatement just now, but the rapidly better feeling he was getting made him smile.

"Carson."

It was always like this with Laura, Carson was often busy back when they were dating… she'd have to poke him or threaten to made a voodoo doll out of C4. She knew he recognized her and the faint smile he had was unabashed. "Laura… fancy meetin' you here."

The infirmary was bright and cheerful, the strawberry blonde beside him in BDU's was the likely cause in his mind though. 2 years with Michael had eroded much of the happiness in Carson's life, but at least he had someone he could talk to. "Carson… you keep pretending you're asleep and I'm going to pour a bucket of water on you… _cold_ water."

Carson chuckled, and leaned up on the bed, he felt a million times better and smiled at Laura. "Aye… okay okay! I surrender!" He chuckled a bit, stretched his neck, and then looked around. He didn't recognize anyone. "Laura… where is everyone?"

Laura's face lost its cheer, and she took Carson's hand in hers. "Carson… there's something you have to know…"

Carson instantly feared the worst. "Oh no… not… how… how long have I…? He looked at Laura hard, trying to judge if there was anything different about her. He always assumed she'd age well like a fine wine, but she looked exactly as she did before he was put in stasis.

"A little over 2 weeks…but a lot's changed… We're not in Pegasus anymore."

A strange relief, but at the same time fear came over Carson. "What? So… the city took off?"

Laura sighed, and decided to let him experience it as she first did. "Yes… can you walk? Or… I can get a wheelchair if we need to."

Feeling his manhood insulted, Carson rolled over and swung his feet out onto the floor. He'd forgotten he was wearing scrubs and Laura got a nice eyeful of his exposed backside. "Oh grow up Laura… nothing ye haven't seen before." He was _so_ glad that Laura was here, without Rodney… the place felt a little emptier.

Nevertheless, something was off, and as Carson tied up his scrubs he noticed that many things had changed… much of the expedition's equipment was moved or modified. He even recognized some Traveler technology from his day of knowing them. Laura giggled and took his hand. "Haven't seen it in awhile… forgot how cute it was."

* * *

The walk through Atlantis's corridors was…_alarming_ to say the least. Dozens of men women and even children Carson didn't recognize worked diligently, repairing broken conduits, welding the broken walls back together. Some were even installing lights and what appeared to be information terminals. "Laura…what's going on? Where is everyone? _Who are these people?"_

Laura walked with one arm around Carson's shoulders to steady and guide him. "They're the Travelers… a lot of them decided to stay in Atlantis and live here… The city took a lot of damage in the last battle before we left and from what Sam and Larrin have said, it'll be another few months before it's back to normal."

"Sam? Larrin? Who're ya talking about?"

Laura winced, and recalled that Carson had only briefly met Sam, and had no clue who Larrin was. "Colonel Samantha Carter…. She came to see you for a minute before you went into stasis. Larrin's the leader of the Travelers, she's been working with Sam to get this place back in ship shape."

Carson furrowed his brow slightly, He knew Laura was a good soldier, why wasn't she calling Colonel Carter by her honorific? "I… wow… I feel like I've completely lost touch with reality… All I remember is whatcha told me when you and Ronon found me… Jennifer told me a little as well about the refugees… are they safe?"

Laura smiled, it was _so_ Carson to worry about others first. "They're fine… most are still on the base and getting ready to leave."

"Leave? You mean….the Replicators are gone?"

"And the Wraith." A double edged sword, and Laura hated having the flick the blade around. "But not how you think… just watch…"

They'd reached their destination, and Carson drew in a long shocked gasp. Off in the bright distance, high in the sky, the Sun shone brightly through strangely formed clouds.

But that was nothing compared to the giant blue planet that dominated the horizon. "Laura…. Where are we?"

"We're calling this moon Saudade… and we're safe from the Wraith and Replicators because…" Laura hesitated, even after 2 weeks it was still overwhelming. "_…we're six hundred million light years from Earth."_ Carson's throat constricted and he began to breath faster. Laura noticed instantly and put her arms around him. "Carson… come on… it's okay…"

"It's okay…?" Carson was almost hyperventilating now; this was _by far_ the _last_ thing he could have possibly expected when Jennifer put him in the stasis tube. "_It's okay!_ No, it's not bloody okay! You say I've been in there 2 weeks and all of a sudden I'm halfway across the universe?"

Laura winced and held Carson still. "It was the only way Carson… there's so much you need to know… but we're safe."

Safe…. Carson looked up at the sky and the cold wind flapped at him. Laura's warm embrace did nothing to alleviate the chill in his bones.

**

* * *

**

Carson was in some rather odd clothing. He'd been forced to wear prisoner garb to help prevent potential escape for two years and was looking forward to the Expedition clothing.

He wasn't expecting to wear cured leather that made him look like a Traveler… and even more he was shocked to see Colonels Sheppard and Carter in similar clothing as he entered her office. "Dr. Beckett. It's good to see you up and around."

Carson didn't hold back. "Aye, but _where?_ I'm so out of touch I feel I landed in an alternate reality!"

John pushed the chair from under Sam's desk and offered it to him. "I think you're gonna wanna sit down… Cadman and Ronon told me you're gonna need some serious catch up."

"Aye lad, I nearly fainted when Laura showed me the planet in the sky!"

Sam scoffed softly in amusement. "Sorry about that…" She turned an accusing face to John. "I told Colonel Sheppard to ease you in once Dr. Arius had used the cure we found in Michael's database… but evidently he's not one for subtlety."

John shrugged, an apologetic face to Carson. "Wasn't my fault… Cadman's the one who tossed you in."

Carson groaned softly and rubbed the sides of his head. "Tossed me in? Into a near aneurism, I'd say! How'd we end up here? Can we contact Earth? Who's still here?"

Holding up a hand, Sam gave Carson a smile of reassurance. Deep down inside she was still a little distrustful of this… _cloned doppelganger_… but at this stage she was glad to have someone else from Earth to talk to. "Slow down Doctor… we'll answer any questions we can… first off… are you feeling alright?"

"No I'm not bloody alright! I just took a 2 week nap and ended up across the cosmos and no one wants to tell me how that happened!"

John sighed; he could understand the Doctor's apprehension. "Calm down… we'll start at the beginning… Now Ronon and Cadman said that you were captured by Michael a little over 2 years ago."

"Aye, I went over this with them… he was trying to create hybrids and used my retrovirus research to further his own…" Carson sighed and tried to push away the bad memories. "Ronon tells me he killed Michael… and normally I wouldna wish any harm… but…"

Neither Sam nor John were unmoved by the Doctor's words. Carson simply closed his eyes and buried the memories. Sam spoke softly. "I'm sorry Doctor… I can't imagine what it must have been like."

"Aye, ye can't… and now yer telling me we're god knows how far from home?"

John remained silent, he gave Sam a small look but quickly turned away. Sam replied tactfully. "Yes… specifically we're in the Hoag's Object ring galaxy. We came here by using an experimental propulsion drive the Ancients had developed." Sam leaned forward on her chair and put her elbows on the desk. "I want to apologize to you. The stasis unit you were in was too large to fit through the gate… everything happened so fast after you were put in there that we weren't able to get a smaller one sent to us from the SGC before we left."

Carson shifted in his seat, he was glad to be somewhere safe, but this was rapidly turning into a nightmare. "…and it's taken this long to synthesize a cure from Michael's database?" He'd seen Jennifer's report, and his own theories projected only a few days with the proper knowledge… knowledge he had.

John spoke again, his own voice rueful. "I know you were close to figuring something out when Keller put you in stasis… but without her here…"

Worry entered Carson's veins. "Oh no.. you don't mean…?"

Sam shook her head vehemently. "Oh no no no… Dr Keller is fine… as far as we know."

Carefully chosen words, and Carson could tell from their posture that he wasn't going to like the answer. "As far as you know? What… what happened? Why isn't there anybody I recognize out there?"

A sigh escaped John's lips, and his reply was quick. "Because there's only eleven people from Earth left in the city with you included… along with two thousand refugees and almost five thousand Travelers…"

Carson's jaw dropped a bit and his breathing increased in intensity. "Wha… just… what happened? You didn't leave them in Pegasus did you?"

Sam shook her head. "No… we sent them back to the SGC… it's a long story but the points you need to know is that the others who stayed made their decision to stay… and because the IOA was unwilling to evacuate the refugees out of fear of a Wraith Worshipper somehow getting the Milky Way coordinates to the Wraith… we had to go rogue."

Carson flinched, things had gotten _way _out of control in his slumber. "What? Rogue?"

John nodded. "It was the last resort… the IOA was going to get rid of us and… well they were going to abandon all those people as well."

Sam continued, though Carson saw an emotion flash across her eyes… and it was aimed at John. "… we had to organize a coup and well… most of the expedition didn't want to come with us." Seeing that Carson wasn't going to reply, Sam averted her gaze. "It wasn't an easy decision… and we're still trying to recover from the damage we sustained during our trip in subspace and the last battle…"

Carson dropped his head into his hands, unsure of anything now. "So… what now?"

John looked to Sam, and now Carson could see something… the two of them seemed familiar but there was… some kind of animosity… something was between those two and it wasn't good. "I guess that's really up to you now doc,"

"What? What do you mean?"

Sam took a deep breath and spoke eloquently. "I'll be honest with you Doctor… we're in bad shape. The city has taken so much damage it'll take months to get back to normal. Most of our staff who were familiar with the city are gone and the Travelers aren't up to specs compared to Earth's best scientists…" She paused and took another breath. "we're especially hurting for Doctors and medics… The Travelers have a few, but nowhere near trained enough to handle running a whole department with this many people on the base." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "I know it wasn't your decision to come here… and I take full responsibility.. and it hurts me to have to ask this… but…"

"You want me to take over the infirmary." Carson spoke tersely, a little taken aback at how quickly they were asking him this. Sam and John both nodded, obviously ashamed. "I've been trapped with Michael for 2 years… doing research and development on hybridization and the Hoffan Drug… all I wanted was to get away and go home… and now you're telling me that I can't go home… and you need me to go back to the way things were…"

Both former USAF Colonels became bashful, and Carson could see his words had their intended effect. Carson continued. "Well they can't… Maybe you were ready for this… this change… but I wasn't. I never agreed to this and…" The anger was in his veins, the words of unrelenting ire that wanted to lash out and put both of them in their place… But he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "…and as much I want to tell you two to… _*sigh*_ I just can't. I… I…"

Sam nodded, her face ashamed. "Yes… yes of course… " She tapped her headset. "Cadman come in." The blonde woman with long unfettered hair nodded once and listened to some unheard voice, then replied to it. "If you could come to my office?"

Carson scoffed. "My babysitter?"

John groaned and shook his head. "No… but this place has changed… Laura and Teyla have offered to walk you through anything you want and… and you can ask me anything. I mean it." He rubbed his forehead and temple with one stretched hand. "I'm sorry this had to happen this way Carson... _I really am._"

Carson simply sighed and bowed his head. Nobody in the room said a word and Carson could tell that despite being safe, Atlantis was nowhere near the tight knit home he'd once been taken from.

**

* * *

**

A tour of the broken base, and meeting a few unrecognizable faces. It was sobering to know that he was one of 11 people on this base that came from Earth… and only 13 from the expedition in total.

It was nice to see Ronon and Teyla again, though Ronon simply growled and walked away. Teyla assured him that Ronon was simply unused to Carson being around again and patted him on the shoulder. "You must admit, the situation is nowhere near normal… even for Atlantis."

The mess hall was a good place to do this, though the oddly shaped hunk of… _something_… He couldn't decide if it was animal mineral or vegetable. "I'm just shocked is all… I'm not angry that I'm here… I just wish I could have had the choice."

The Travelers and Refugees in the area gave him odd looks, but most just ate in either silence or private conversations. "Understandable. Although I doubt you would ever wish to leave this place." Teyla had elegance in her voice that always made Carson just a little happier. "It has been a hectic two weeks Carson… and I will not lie, it has not all gone smoothly."

Carson turned back to Teyla and sighed. "I gathered that… I could have sworn Colonel's Sheppard and Carter were avoiding each other even though they were in the same room."

Teyla nodded gently, and she lowered her voice. "They have been reluctant to speak to anyone since coming to this galaxy including themselves. I believe they are just depressed as they _are_ the one who left the most behind."

Nodding, Carson replied. "I can see that. This place feels so… _broken…_ like a glass pane that's shattered or…" Carson sighed and looked to Teyla. "Who else is here… people I would know?"

Shrugging, Teyla recited it from memory. "You've already seen Laura, John and Samantha… other than myself and Ronon, Dr Zelenka, Dr Esposito, as well as several marines decided to join us." Teyla's eyes seemed to light up. "Oh yes… and Dr. Jackson is here as well."

To that, Carson flinched. "_Daniel Jackson!"_

"Do you know him?"

Carson nodded. "Aye! I met him before we even left for Atlantis 4 years ago, _he's here too?"_ Seeing Teyla nod and smile, Carson truly thought he was dead and this was some form of punishment. "Good lord… are you sure it's only been 2 weeks? Everything's changed so much that… I… I just don't know what to do anymore!"

Teyla sighed and squeezed his shoulder. "I know… and… there are so much to tell you that…" She stopped for a moment and seemed to think hard. "Carson… you once told me of something called a hippopotamus oath."

It was said with the most elegant and prim voice Carson had ever heard. Given the insanity already around him, hc couldn't help it and started snickering uncontrollably.

"Have I said something amusing?"

That only made it worse, for the first time in years Carson honestly felt joy in his gut and guffawed at the unintentional mispronunciation.

He was still laughing when Laura came up from behind, now in Traveler clothes instead of her BDUs. "Uhh okay… Did I miss something?"

Teyla furrowed her brow and shrugged. "I mentioned his hippopotamus oath and he's been laughing ever since."

Carson fell into another fit at the mention. And Laura stifled a giggle. "Uhh that's Hippo_cratic _Oath… a Hippopotamus is a.. big.. fat and hungry animal that eats these little white balls." Even Laura thought it was funny, and seeing Teyla smack Carson after giving her a strange look, felt that maybe with time Carson would get used to this just like she did.

Eventually Carson stopped laughing, and seeing Teyla staring at him with just a hint of anger, sighed apologetically. "Oh I'm sorry Teyla… it's just…it's been a long time since I really found anything funny and…"

Teyla's glare became a smile, and she leaned forward to take him into a hug. "I understand… and I _am_ glad you are with us." She let him go and looked to Laura. "I must go… Torren will likely be driving Daniel insane."

Carson furrowed his brow. "Torren?"

A small smile, and Teyla looked to Laura. "Could you…?"

Laura nodded and sat down across from Carson. "Yeah yeah… I'll uhh…" A sort of resigned voice came to her face and she smiled at Carson.

The Doctor furrowed his brow as Teyla waved goodbye. He then gave Laura an accusing face and questioned. "Torren? Who's Torren?"

A heavy sigh escaped Laura's mouth, and she replied softly. "Her son."

The surprises kept coming, and Carson's eyes went wide. "Son? She… she had a _son?"_ Laura nodded and pulled a fry off Carson's plate. The Pegasus version of the potato fried nicely was and surprisingly tasty. "…Who's the…" It suddenly made sense, the animosity between John and Colonel Carter earlier. "It's Colonel Sheppard's isn't it…? That's why…"

Laura nearly jumped at the mention. "_Oh damn!_ _No-no–no-no-no!"_ Her hands came up and tapped her chest clearing her throat from the choking fry. "Whew… damn…"

"So… it's not John's?" Carson made a slightly suggestive shrug of his shoulders. "Then… then who?"

A few more snickers, Laura would _definitely_ have to tell John about this. "It uhh… he's not here… it was an Athosian named Kanaan."

Carson winced in recognition. "Oh… _oh no_… he…" Carson simply shut his eyes and tried to block it out. Kanaan was one of the first to become hybridized and from what Ronon said, likely dead in one of Michael's failed raids on the Wraith. "I knew him... he was a good man."

Laura shrugged and sighed. "I wouldn't know… but if Teyla liked him than it's a safe bet." They remained quiet a moment, and then Laura continued. "She's been holding it together… but it hasn't been easy… Most of us are still shell shocked and…" shaking her head, Laura looked at her watch. "Oh _crap…_ Carson?"

"Aye?"

"I uhhh.. I've gotta go… Sheppard is taking a team to the mainland to look for an ancient outpost there's supposed to be there..." A sudden flare erupted behind her eyes, something Carson knew that meant bad news. "Why don't you come with us? We can play catch up and I'm sure you'd be helpful."

Carson groaned softly, and feeling the need for fresher air decided to just go with it. "Why not? And while we're at it I might finally figure out how I ended up in an alternate reality…!"

A snicker, and Laura motioned for him to follow.

The City was so… _full_… yet at the same time Carson couldn't help but feel lonely. The last time he'd been here he had just finished work on the updated retrovirus… the thought that it was in part his research which led to the deaths of the Athosians was a hard pill to swallow.

Laura led him to the armory, a pair of Travelers in body armor protecting it. It was unbelievable just how strange it seemed…. The Travelers seemed to have usurped the position the expedition had,.. he wondered who it was that had taken his… or rather Jennifer's place.

"Laura… how bad are things… really?"

Laura had just looped the Tacvest onto her shoulders and considered the question."…What do you mean?"

"Colonels Carter and Sheppard said this place is in bad shape… they asked me if I could help with the infirmary… how bad is it really?"

A moment to zip up her vest, and she grabbed a radio from the table nearby. "…Honestly? It's bad. The Travelers are smarter then the average bear but they've got nothing on our people… and with only Zelenka and Ella staying… we need everyone we can get."

Carson sighed and put the vest on. He didn't know exactly what to do now, but he appreciated that Laura was willing to tell him the truth. "And medically? What's going on that they need _me_?"

"The uhh… the Travelers have their own medicine and doctors..," Laura handed Carson a radio and sidearm in a pouch. "… but it's strange. They've scavenged most of their technology and most of Atlantis's tech is beyond them. A lot of the refugees are sick and some of the Travelers are getting sick from being on the planet… something to do with their immune systems I don't know…" Laura turned to the side and took a deep breath. "So yeah… Sam and John were right… we're in bad shape and we could _really_ use your help. "

Carson could see the desperation in Laura's voice…if only he could get used to the idea of never going home again.

**

* * *

**

"Brrr… why is it so _cold?"_

Carson was now glad that he was wearing the leathers of the Traveler style of clothing. Laura had explained that very few of the renegades now felt comfortable in BDUs as it reminded them of home and what they'd willfully abandoned.

He noted that most everyone else wore them except for the lightly tan skinned woman in front of him who seemed extra bundled up. Laura replied to the other Captain's question. "Colonel Carter says it's cuz this moon is in the middle of winter. The mainland is closer to the equator though so it'll be nice and hot."

To Carson's side, Sheppard mumbled. "Must be those Spanish genes talking cuz I really don't feel anything."

The small group chuckled, and Carson looked at them. He only recognized Sheppard and Laura, the others were all either Travelers except for the one Marine captain. He looked to Sheppard expectantly but was interrupted by the 'Spanish' Captain. "Maybe it's the 2 years I did in Iraq, can't imagine what McMurdo would be like."

Carson knew Sheppard had been stationed there, but he didn't know if the Captain knew, staring back at her he didn't see any hostility… but he did see a little humor. Sheppard's voice showed that he was only slightly amused. "Watch it Vega… Dusty showed me a little video with you and Drake that…"

Vega instantly blushed and shook her head. _"No no no! _That-that's okay!"

"Good. Now how bout you fly the jumper? I got to talk to Carson and Cadman needs to see if her ATA therapy worked. I'd rather not let her at the controls with the ground nearby."

Seeing a little annoyance, but clear respect, the Captain entered the jumper and waved the Traveler crew in as well. Carson turned to Sheppard and shrugged. "Gene therapy? I thought it didn't work on Laura."

John put an arm on Carson's shoulder and pulled him into the back of the jumper. "Lot I gotta catch you up on doc…"

A lot turned out to be the entire trip there, Carson asked about everything, How they'd ended up here, specific people, how Torren_ Rodney_ was conceived and named _(Carson found it oddly fitting for the child to be named after Rodney… he wouldn't exist if not for the scientist)_

Carson did notice Sheppard getting a little nervous and agitated at the mention of the physicist. He wanted to ask more, but decided to wait a bit.

The coup was difficult to listen to… so many people hurt, and somehow miraculously very few fatalities. Sheppard promised to introduce him to Larrin later as well as Reyna the head Traveler Doctor, the person who'd modified the gene therapy to be up to 75% efficient.

He'd just gotten past that when Vega called over her shoulder. "We're nearing the mainland! Picking up some readings from…_that way!_"

Sheppard rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well then let's head _that_ way!" Seeing how Carson was rather astonished with their odd camaraderie, John lowered his voice. "Don't worry Doc… it's just…Well we _are_ the only people from Earth… gotta stick together."

Carson narrowed his eyes, and decided that enough was enough. "Then what was that little edge you and Colonel Carter had? I've never seen you so…" Unable to think of a word, Carson simply shrugged.

John on the other hand just sighed dejectedly; he rubbed the back of his head as he replied. "That's… _complicated_."

It was obvious the Lieutenant Colonel was having a hard time for some reason. In fact… it seemed that with everyone else including the Travelers, John had a nice friendly relationship… Carson was honestly surprised that he wasn't getting along with Colonel Carter. "Well… alright…I won't prod…" He stayed silent a moment. "Changing subjects… Laura said something about an illness… something the Travelers were having trouble with."

John nodded. "Yeah… don't know how the hell it's spreading. Rey's got her hands full and she said she was close but needed help… that's uhh…" John again seemed bashful. "…that's kinda why we unfroze you."

His eyes wide yet again, Carson didn't know what to say. "I… I don't know what to say… I just spent the last two years doing things I really didn't want to do… and now yer asking me to jump right back into the thick of it…" Carson lowered his voice so only John could hear. " '_Good Boy Carson! Make up for the atrocities you've done by helping us! *Sigh*_. I don't know what to do Colonel… I… I _want_ to help… I really do… but it's just too fast! How.., how can you expect me to just…"

Shaking his head, John sighed. "I'm sorry Carson… _goddamnit _I'm sorry I had to do this… I'm sorry for a lot of things now…" He seemed so depressed, Carson felt bad for poking him with the righteous poker of his ire. "Can't change it… and I guess we'll just have to keep on going."

"John… I'm sorry." Carson shook his head in embarrassment. "I just…"

"It's okay." John smiled ruefully. "… I deserved every bit of that."

"No ya don't it's…"

"Carson." John started at him, and Carson could see that it was badly affecting John to be in this situation. "It's okay. Seriously. I'm the reason we're all here… so you've got me to blame for being here."

Now feeling horrible, Carson shook his head. "No… no… I… I don't blame you. Laura told me that you saved her and everyone on this base..." a moment of silence and a sigh. "My life is a small price to pay."

Neither man said anything after that. And it wasn't much longer before Captain Vega reported in. "Got a lock sir… no real areas to land around it though."

John grumbled as he moved to the front section. "How far is the nearest suitable landing area?"

Cadman in the passenger seat tapped a few buttons and nodded. "About 3 kilometers."

Vega grumbled and looked up at Sheppard. "Sir… permission to act freely?"

John furrowed his brow, confused over the wording. "Act freely?"

The Captain smiled and looked to the console. "Don't mind if I do!"

To everyone's surprise, a drone spat out of the left launcher and headed down about 100 feet away from where the sensors detected the outpost.

John jumped in surprise and raised his voice. "_Vega!"_

She gave him an innocent grin and looked down to where the drone had detonated. "Oh look. A parking spot."

Carson could see John wanted to snap at her, but he also saw a sense of resignation, something he'd never seen in John before. "Colonel?"

The Travelers were a little surprised, but for the most part they agreed with Vega. Cadman was staying completely out of it and simply input landing coordinates. Just in case.

John finally grumbled softly and motioned with his head. "Get us down there…"

* * *

Despite the destruction at the landing site, the jungle itself seemed rather nice. Carson had to admit, it was nice to breath real fresh air again instead of the reprocessed air of Atlantis or Michael's laboratories.

Laura stayed close, a P90 on her vest and a Doppler scanner in her hands. John remained near the front, while Vega took point with the Travelers making up the center group. "Remind me why I'm here?"

Laura turned and shrugged. "Well… we're hoping this outpost has some information on this galaxy. You're familiar with ancient systems and well…" A sigh left her lips. "We're pretty low on people with that experience… and the gene."

Carson groaned softly. "Great… all that medical school training to end up being a genetic interface again…"

John chuckled as he listened from ahead of them. "Hey… you're lucky I landed assbackwards in that chair a few years ago or you'd have done it a lot more."

The travelers were confused, and one of the more daring men sidled up to Vega ostensibly to question her about the exchange, Carson watched as she easily and quickly tore the man's intentions out from under him. It was almost comical the way he walked back to his friends deflated.

"Hold!" John held up his fist, and the group quickly stopped and took ready positions. "Cadman… whaddya got there?"

Laura tapped a few buttons on the screen and clicked her tongue. "Looks like there's an entrance about 50 feet to the right… there's some dense underbrush though."

Before anyone could act, John turned and pointed at Vega. "_No!_ Once was enough!" His scowl quickly turned into a grin. "That's why we brought the machetes."

Carson furrowed his brow. "Machetes?"

Everyone in the group but him pulled the massive blades from hidden holsters on their legs. Carson simply hadn't noticed and now questioned exactly how much _else_ he hadn't noticed.

They quickly cut through the underbrush, and Carson took a look at the plants. Many were of a strange variety but for the most part nothing remarkable. Some seemed to move on their own, but he was sure it was just an optical illusion.

They reached the entrance, and instantly Carson furrowed his brow. The design was completely different yet still familiar.

"Anyone else feel like walking the other way?"

John rolled his eyes and turned to Vega. "That's _enough_ Captain… Come and take point."

The Travelers chatted amongst themselves and John reasserted his authority. Carson watched as even though she did move and take point, Vega was still postured for attitude.

She flicked her flashlight on and they moved ahead. The dark and humid atmosphere inside the outpost made them all start to regret wearing leather. Laura groaned softly as she unzipped her vest. "God it's so hot…" She began to fan herself as she looked at the Doppler scanner. "Doesn't look like there's any structural damage sir… the alloys are pretty much the same as Atlantis, Carbon/Trinium with a trace of Neutronium… lot of plant life though…"

One of the Travelers moved forward and poked one of the plants with a stick. He jumped back when it shirked away, reacting to his presence. "Whoa! Sheppard!"

John rushed forward with his P90 at the ready, Vega automatically took up a position covering him while Carson watched. "What is it?"

"That plant just moved… watch."

The Traveler poked the plant again, and again, it moved avoiding the explorative stick. John grumbled something below his breath that Carson couldn't pick up and then turned to the doctor. "Carson… I'm no botanist but aren't there some types of plants that can do that?"

'_God… where's Katie Brown when you need her?' _"Yes Colonel, I'm not sure of the name or exactly how they do it, but I know it's perfectly normal for some plants to react like that."

John flicked the safety on his P90 to the _off_ position and shrugged. "I dunno… I remember Sam telling me something about a giant plant thing attacking the SGC once… Watch yourselves."

Carson had heard of that rather interesting story as well, and knowing that life existed in many forms, unholstered the Sig Sauer from his hip and held it shakily.

Laura noticed immediately and backed up a bit. "Stay calm… just stick close and we'll be fine."

Unable to find a reason to disagree, Carson nodded and moved ahead examining the walls.

It was definitely an Ancient design, the angular walls and dark colors spoke clearly. But the vegetation and thick layers of dust said it hadn't been occupied in a long time.

There were no lights other than the odd crack in the ceiling that filtered in sunlight, and the Marine's P90 flashlights. The Travelers used some kind of glow stick as they explored as well, not touching anything but remaining curious.

Vega suddenly snapped and held her rifle at the ready, the other soldiers reacted and aimed as well towards the corridor she pointed at. "I saw something move…"

John took a few steps forward and looked, he couldn't see anything. "Coulda been one of those plants."

Carson could see that Vega was _very_ agitated whatever she'd seen had scared the hardened marine. "Don't think so sir… moved fast and…"

"What? What is it?"

Vega turned to Sheppard slightly and said. "…it looked big."

John cleared his throat, looked back at the Travelers who now had their weapons drawn, and nodded softly. "Alright… we've got no idea what this thing might be…." He pointed to the Travelers. "Keep those things on medium unless we're threatened…" he then turned to Cadman. "Stay in the pack." Turning to Carson he nodded again. "You too Doc…" Finally he patted Vega on the shoulder. "You're with me… watch my six."

"Yes Sir…"

Carson noticed instantly that John was retaking control, whatever it was that was keeping him back earlier was gone, and the youngish Captain quickly let go of her attitude. Carson followed Laura and took a position between the Travelers and Sheppard.

They had moved ahead another few rooms, each one trashed and what appeared to be flood damaged. Laura kept scratching her head and mumbling to herself but what, Carson didn't ask.

They'd finally reached the center of the outpost, and everyone gave a small gasp of surprise. It looked surprisingly like the control room in Atlantis, some panels were even still lit with power. Except…

John moved forward and traced a finger on the console. He shone his light on it and instantly became tense. "We're not alone… someone's been cleaning up." He turned to the group and signaled with his free hand. "Pair up… spread out and radio any contacts. Do not engage unless you're attacked."

The Travelers seemed reluctant, but wordlessly they followed orders. Carson was _not_ enjoying the idea of going off even with Cadman, and he was relieved when John looked to him. "Doc… try and see what you can make of these systems. Cover him Cadman…" He motioned to Vega and cocked his head towards what appeard to be the gateroom. "Come on… gotta find this bogeyman of yours."

"More like a ghost… wish I had my proton pack."

John chuckled at the dark joke, then pulled his own particle magnum from his waistband. "Next best thing." The gun made a sound as it switched to overchage mode, and the two soldiers left the area opposite the direction of the 4 Travelers.

Carson gulped, still feeling very unsure about this, and began to examine the consoles. The ancient script scrolling across was very unfamiliar, even to the language he'd seen in Atlantis, Laura kept a watchful eye on the surroundings and evidently tried to calm him down by chatting. "How ya doing Carson?"

Feeling the need to vent a lttle, Carson fell back on snark. "Oh same old same old… using my gene to find out how close to doom we are… basically everything but what I trained my whole life for…"

The Travelers, John and Vega were all on their radios, reporting what they found. _"Found the gate room… don't see a ring though."_

"_Keep an eye out… if this outpost's here there's probably gates…"_

"_Does every galaxy have to have stargates?"_

"_It'd be a mighty boring place without em." _

Laura sighed, and walked over to him. "It's been rough… I know… it's hard on all of us but I can't imagine what it's like for you…"

A clanging sound off in the distance alerted them both, and Carson quickly fumbled with his sidearm. "Wha-wha what was that!"

Laura took a position and unslung her P90. "Don't know…coulda been a wall falling or something…"

Their radios began to chatter, the Travelers squawking to each other. "_Did you see that?"_

"_No… wait! What the…?"_

"_Contact!" _The sounds of particle magnums firing filled the radio and echoed down the halls. "_It's too fast! The hell is that!"_

Carson could feel his pulse and breathing increase, a natural human reaction to threatening stimuli. Laura motioned for him to follow and they quickly took cover behind a console. Laura tapped her headset and muttered. "This is Cadman… we're taking cover in the control room… what's…"

"_Stay there Captain! We've got a… something running around!" _John's voice was strained as if he were running. "_Everyone regroup! We need to figure ou..."_

Vega's voice cut in seconds before he P90. "_There!"_

The rapport of the gun was close, and Laura moved over to the window to look down towards the gate room. "Holy…"

Carson scurried over and looked as well. He saw John and Vega firing at a rather fast moving black figure… Carson couldn't tell if it was humanoid or not, that bounced from one end of the room to the other.

The floor itself seemed to shift, and John was knocked off his balance ending up on the ground on his ass.

Vega managed to hold on, and seeing the black figure rush towards her unloaded the rest of her clip in a one handed burst using her other hand to balance out..

Carson had always had a good eye, you _needed_ to if you wanted to be surgeon, so when he saw the bullets simply bounce off the creature, itself then swatting Vega away like a ragdoll, Carson wished he hadn't seen it. "Captain!"

The now unconscious Captain landed on top of John, and the figure finally stopped.

It was a strange sight indeed, the figure seemed there but at the same time, he wobbled from side to side like a heat mirage. It raised… _something_. Carson couldn't tell whether it was a hand or not, and the floor shifted even more revealing an opening.

Almost majestically, a stargate rose up out of the floor and began to dial. How the creature had dialed without a DHD was amazing, and even more, the gate flashed open so fast that Carson was unable to see which symbols were dialed. The chevrons themselves glowed a pale violet, another difference.

Laura raised her P90 and fired, the bullets ricocheting but doing little in any harm to the specter standing in the gateroom. Once the gate finished establishing a lock, it then calmly wafted over and through the gate horizon without a word.

John groaned as he tried to get up, but Vega's limp body was enough to hold him down for a minute. "_Carson!"_

The feeling of being needed was there, Carson instantly snapped into Doctor mode. "Let's go Laura!"

The Captain was still surprised, she had hit the thing at least 20 times and not a single bullet penetrated or done any visible damage. "Yeah… yeah let's go!"

Quickly they raced down the hallway to the gateroom, the Travelers joining up and quickly showing they were okay. One limped and held his chest though, and as they ran Carson gave him a quick check up. Other than a bruised rib and minor twist of his ankle, the man would be fine. The Traveler recounted being thrown to the side as if he were a toy.

They finally made it to the gateroom where John had propped Vega up against his chest and examined her. "Doc! She's hurt pretty badly…"

Ignoring the obvious comment, Carson looked to the Travelers and spat orders. "Which of you has the medkit?"

A younger one with a lean face gulped and nodded. "I do… I've been learning from Reyna and…"

Feeling a tad impatient, Carson waved at him to move forward. "Well move it lad! I'll be glad you teach you everything I know _after_ we get outta here!"

John's voice cut in quickly. "Cadman! Secure the area and Radio Atlantis! Tell them what happened and to get more teams down here _now!"_

Carson ignored it, and hardly noticed two Travelers moving off with Laura. He knelt down and quickly accepted the scanner from the Traveler medic. "Alright… let's see…" He ran it over the Captain who now stirred softly regaining consciousness. "Alright… contusions along the arms and body… moderate concussion… mild internal bleeding… a few hairline fractures…" He sighed dejectedly. "She'll be fine… but I can't treat her here… We need to get back to Atlantis."

John nodded and felt Vega push away. "Agreed..."

Vega pushed up and shook her head as if clearing her vision. "Oh _fuuuck_… anyone get the license plate?"

Nobody laughed, and as she tried to get up she fell back down from the dizziness. "_Oohph_!"

Carson shook his head and pushed her back down. "Oh no! You're not walking anywhere. If ya didn't have such a hard head I'd be wondering how yer even still conscious!"

John smiled at that, it was classic Carson motherhenning. "Listen to him, he's got big needles and he's not afraid to use em."

Now the group chuckled, and Carson looked around. "We need a stretcher… try and…"

Interrupting, John looped one arm under Vega's legs and the other around her back. "No time… Let's go. I got her."

The captain snorted and groaned as she was picked up off the floor. She wrapped her arms around John's neck and muttered. "Oh great… _my hero."_ She gave John a weak '_come hither'_ look that was more sarcastically comical than anything else.

John rolled his eyes and motioned to the group. "Let's go, we'll be back with a bigger team."

One of the Travelers picked up one of the bullet casings from the floor and deadpanned. "… and bigger guns."

* * *

Carson insisted on being the one to treat Vega once they'd gotten to Atlantis. The attitude giving Captain quickly warmed to him and felt much better after some of Carson's feared 'Big Needles'

It was late now, and a fully armed team had secured the outpost. Carson didn't bother with the details and instead looked around to the packed infirmary.

He'd been so focused on Vega that it hadn't occurred to him that these people were sick… many of them Pegasus natives. What exactly was affecting them was unclear… at least only because he wasn't in the know.

Carson asked around, and it wasn't long before he was introduced to Reyna Arius, the CMO of the Travelers. A shortish woman, her lightly tanned skin and angular features were almost what Earth would call Asian. She spoke with an elegant voice, and the smile she wore warmed Carson to the thought of working here. "Greetings Dr Beckett, I'm glad you're feeling so well."

Blushing a little, Carson shrugged. "Well… I hear I have you to thank for that."

Seemingly receptive but not bashful over his compliment, Reyna motioned him to follow her. "Thank you Doctor… Dr Keller was a great help as well and I only wish she could have stayed."

"Yes… I do miss her as well." Carson missed a lot of people, but now wasn't the time for nostalgia. "Still… that's impressive. I uhh…" Carson wasn't sure how Reyna would react to his first hand knowledge of Wraith technology. "Well… I'm sure you know I've had experience with that kind of technology… I know it's not easy,"

Understanding crossed Reyna's face, and she nodded gently. "Yes… and I'm almost positive there's an answer in there for what's spreading in the base…"

Carson felt that urge inside him, the urge to help. It had never really gone away, and despite the pain in his soul from what Michael had forced him to do, he couldn't stand here idly and do nothing. "Do you have pathological data yet? What about blood samples and protein cultures?"

Reyna smiled, and knew the Lanteans were correct in their praise of Doctor Beckett.

* * *

Waking to a gentle hand on his shoulder, Carson stirred himself back to some semblance of consciousness. He'd been working for hours and apparently fell asleep at the desk Reyna had provided for him. "Hey… wake up sleepy head."

Carson rubbed his eyes and looked at who was waking him. A rather attractive blonde Traveler woman pulled him up into his seat and chuckled. "Wow… Sheppard was right."

"Hmm? Ach… who… who are you?"

The woman held out a hand. "Larrin… I'm a Traveler." She smirked. "I guess you could call me_ the_ Traveler. I'm what Sheppard calls the "Commander in Chief"."

Carson finally reached a level of consciousness where two way communication was possible. "Commander in Chief? The.. Oh… you mean you're their leader?"

Larrin nodded and pulled a chair out for herself. "Yeah… We've been on Atlantis for about 5 months now. I think Sheppard might have told you about us."

It all came back to him, the conversation in the office, the trip to the outpost, the… "Ohh… it's been a very long day… you'd think I could get some rest but…"

A small sigh, and Larrin clicked her tongue. "Yeah… actually… that's why I'm here." Carson gave her a curious look. "I wanted to thank you… you don't know this, but Reyna was able to take the information you pulled out of that Wraith database and synthesized a vaccine for those who were ill."

Carson raised his eyebrows now fully awake. "Really? Ohh… I… I was just looking to see if what kind of knowledge they had on the immune system… figured the Wraith would have better knowledge than us."

Larrin shrugged around a bit and mused. "Well… not _exactly_. Whether you know it or not you just saved everyone on this base."

"Huh?"

The vaccine Reyna gave you…" Larrin smiled and pointed to her own arm where a little bandage was. "…with the information you provided her, she was able to modify it into a broad spectrum vaccine . It turns out there's some kind of spore in the air that we're just not used to."

It made perfect sense. In their first year on Atlantis, there were several small epidemics due to the same reason. "Ohh… that… that's good to hear."

Larrin nodded and motioned for Carson to get up and follow. "Come on, I promised Sheppard I'd get to know you… he said you're a great guy."

Carson furrowed his brow, certainly this woman was making the effort. "Oh… what else did he say?"

A moment of hesitation, Carson could tell Larrin knew a lot more about him than she was letting on. "Ohh… nothing none of the others haven't told me… you didn't hear it from me but they're all glad you're here, and after today, I can see why."

Carson couldn't help it and smiled. As much as he wanted to go home and see family he hadn't seen in years, at least something familiar and familial was here with him.

* * *

"Vega's gonna be okay?"

John was sitting far away from Sam, Daniel between them. "Yeah… yeah she uhh… she's got a hard head. Nothing a little rest won't fix."

Sam remained relatively quiet as well, focusing on Daniel. "The teams Larrin sent out say the outpost is still functional, just doesn't have power. A lot of the systems look like they've been pulled apart though and it'll take time to get everything back to normal."

Daniel shrugged and muttered, his chest still sore from his injury 2 weeks ago. "Well what is normal? We don't know anything about this galaxy beyond that the Ancients were here... and apparently they left a stargate system here as well."

Sighing, John rubbed his hands together. "Larrin told me that her teams found some data crystals… they're bringing em back now and she uhh… _requested_… our help in translating them."

"Sure, I'd love to go over them." Daniel replied instantly, almost eager to learn more. "With any luck we'll be able to figure out exactly what this galaxy is like."

Sam snorted softly and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It might have to wait… I've been going over repair lists and requests to leave… the refugees know about the mainland and want to go there…" She groaned softly. "…With that… _thing_ you mentioned though… I'm not sure I'm that comfortable doing that yet."

Getting up, John stretched his neck and sighed. "Well Larrin's got a few of her ships doing scans and finding suitable colony sites. It's mostly jungle out there and it's a little harsher than Pegasus." He looked to the door, and quickly he motioned with his head. "I'm gonna see how Vega's doing and Larrin's teams."

Without even excusing himself beyond that, John left the office leaving Daniel and Sam alone. Daniel sighed softly and looked to Sam. "You two have to stop this."

Sam knew what he was talking about, but decided to play dumb. "Stop what?"

Narrowing his eyes and giving her a blank stare, Daniel muttered. _"This!_ Whatever _this_ is…" Daniel sighed and shook his head. "He's terrified you know?"

"Oh? What of?" Sam knew damn well what John was _terrified_ over, but they'd agreed not to discuss it.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but we're all scared Sam… but he's got a hell of a lot more on his conscience just like you do."

Sam pursed her lips, and remained impassive. "Your point?"

Daniel groaned and got up out of his chair. "My _point_ is… like it or not, you two are still the leaders of this base. Before we came here, you two were like two sides of the same coin… but now? It's like you're actively avoiding each other even if you're in the same room!"

Sam shook her head and sighed. "Does it even matter? We might be the _leaders_… but what's left? This isn't an _expedition_ anymore… we're just trying to survive."

"That's not enough."

Sam narrowed her eyes at Daniel and glowered. "Excuse me?"

Daniel didn't hold back a thing. "It's not enough to survive. We need to live _for something_. Everyone on this base is getting restless and it's popping up in our people."

Scoffing, Sam couldn't resist. "_Our_ people? There's eleven of us Daniel…! _Eleven…_ I hardly think that makes a difference in the grand scheme of things."

The Archeologist shook his head, and he leaned on her desk with his hands. "You're wrong. And I can prove it. Look at the Travelers… they've been _surviving_ for the past ten thousand years and what do you see?"

"What _do_ I see?"

Getting a little exasperated with how Sam was being so pedantic, Daniel gave her one last chance. "You see people who have no purpose… all they know how to do is survive… They look to us for guidance… God why do you think Larrin hasn't just shoved you aside and taken over herself?"

Sam didn't really have a good answer to that, so she simply sighed and remained in her seat.

Daniel took her non-response and rolled his eyes. "Look… I'm not saying you can go back to the way things were… we're _long_ past that… but you've got to put this silent bickering aside. If not for the Travelers… for the people who decided to follow you instead of going home."

It was a harsh yet perfectly logical argument. Sam took a second then nodded gently. "…Alright… I'll…I'll try." She sighed heavily. "I'm going to bed… it's been a long day and I've got even more work waiting for me tomorrow… let alone trying to keep this place from going hungry."

Daniel furrowed his brow. "I thought there was still plenty of supplies left from the IOA… that crazy philanthropist?"

Sam shook her head and chuckled. "No… only enough for another 2 months… unless we can find a source of food in this galaxy or start growing crops… we're screwed."

The stress levels were high, and all Sam wanted was to go home… Daniel saw how affected she was by the circumstances, and decided to give her a little of his own consolation. "Sam… do you remember when Jack and me first went through the gate?"

Sam scoffed and nodded. Her eyes were darkened with exhaustion. "Yeah… yeah I uhh… I fought tooth and nail to go with you guys… I lost."

Daniel chuckled and shook his head idly. "You didn't miss much… but uhh… what I wanted to say was… Sha're wasn't the only reason I stayed behind."

The Colonel looked at her longtime friend, and wondered what he meant. "What?"

Daniel nodded and sighed. "I lost my purpose on Earth… and it wasn't just the fact that no one would listen to me… I… I just didn't know what to do anymore. Catherine gave me a reason to keep going and… and I took it." Sam remained silent, only listening. "We're in the same situation now… and one of the ways I managed to keep going was to keep doing things I enjoyed." He chuckled. "Remember the Cartouche room?"

Sam laughed openly, it had been many years since she'd thought of it. "Yeah… of course I remember… I fell in love with you there." A snort left Sam's lips and both friends laughed, Sam could feel the tension lessen. "I think I get what you mean… you loved archeology and… and even though you thought you'd never come back… you kept at it."

"Exactly…" Daniel pulled himself back up and groaned softly at the pain. "It'll take time… and it _will_ happen… but only if you let it."

Sam bowed her head and rubbed her nose. Sleep… that was all she could hope for today. But the past 2 weeks had been hell every night. "…God I hope so…"


	2. Home is where the Heart is

**Episode 2 – Home is where the Heart is **

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_18 Days in Hoag's Object_

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_**A/N Please read:**__ This Episode has been retouched to be less...Sucky. Trust me, the original was cringe worthy. Only a few minor changes which make a load of difference :D_

_This is a slow episode, but it's building up for the rest of the season.  
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**Samantha Carter: **_"Daniel? Is that Torren?"_

**Daniel Jackson: **_"Uhh yeah…Teyla's helping me with organizing the refugees into their separate groups and… _Ow! No no no! _Don't…Don't…!"_

**Samantha Carter: **_"Is there… a problem?"_

**Teyla Emmagen:** "_Yes Sam… Daniel is currently…sparring with Torren over his digital pen."_

**Samantha Carter:** _"Oh? Who's winning?"_

**Daniel Jackson:** _"Who do you _think_? The kid's as strong as his mom and I'm gonna need a new digipen!"_

_

* * *

_

Sam always had a knack for dealing with mechanical problems. When she was a kid, she'd taken apart a ham radio along with her stereo and made a police scanner. Despite it being confiscated, that was beside the point. "Pass me that braze rod?"

Mila was much like her at the same age, Smarter than those around her, constantly wanting more and more, the only difference was that Mila worked on hyperdrives instead of police scanners. "Which one is that?"

Sam snickered and pulled the dark visor up. Mila had 4 rods in her hand, none of them the right one. "The one with the paste on top of it… it's kinda green and…"

Mila dropped the rods to the floor and grabbed one of the proper ones. "Got it!" She handed it to Sam who lay on her back reattaching the conduit's support to the wall.

The Brazing Rod wasn't exactly the best tool for the job, but lacking supplies of Trinium, it would have to do. "Put your goggles on… pass me that mask would you please?"

Wordlessly, Mila did as she was told and tapped a few buttons on her Tablet. "Alright… once we fix this we can finish off the rest of the floor while Elas and his guys get the next floor safe."

The tower they were in had taken severe damage in the final battle of Pegasus. More than one dart had crashed into the structure and the shattered walls and unstable floors were a sobering sight.

The power conduits had been their target, and very nearly had they succeeded in disrupting power to the city. Sam worked diligently when she wasn't busy with something else putting her welding skill to good use.

It was the only way she could continue like this, unsure of anything, the worry of the entire city on her shoulders, and even more, the knowledge that this really was her home now whether she liked it or not.

"Sam…?"

Finishing the last weld, Sam took a heavy breath away from the chemicals floating in the air and wiped at her brow. "Yeah?"

Mila was sitting with her knees up, much like Sam often sat when she needed to think. "Are you okay?"

Sam had learned that Mila was a surprisingly perceptive young woman, and she didn't play around with words. "What do you mean?"

"_You_… I dunno you're all… _weird_."

Sam furrowed her brow at the young woman. "_Weird?"_

Mila shrugged, and gave Sam a hand getting up. "Yeah… you're not the same as before."

It was obvious to everyone, but Mila appeared to be the only one tactless enough to mention it. "Yeah well… I guess I'm still getting used to this."

"You miss your planet."

It wasn't a question, but Sam still answered. "Yeah… yeah I do…" Unwilling to get emotional around her, Sam simply smiled to hide her true feelings. "Not much I can really do about it now though."

The young Traveler girl looked down at Sam and furrowed her brow. "I guess I just don't get it… I mean… a planet is _huge!_ How can you miss it all?"

Sam laughed instantly. So curious, so smart, and yet so innocent. "It's not the whole planet I miss Mila… I guess I just miss my old home."

"I thought Atlantis was your home… that's why you stayed."

Loath to tell the girl the truth, Sam simply shrugged. "Well… yeah but I still miss Earth… I'm not regretting I came here if that's what you're thinking."

It was the truth… or at least part of it, and Mila handed Sam a cloth to wipe her face. "That's good. But…"

"But?"

Mila smiled and seemed almost sympathetic. "You're sad."

No one else would dare to say as much with so little, and Sam decided to reward her boldness. "Yeah… yeah I am sad… but I'll be okay."

"You weren't _married_ or anything… _were you?"_

Now feeling her cheeks blushing, she could see that Mila didn't see anything of asking her such personal questions. "Ummm… _no._"

Mila finally noticed Sam's discomfort and started giggling. "I'm not embarrassing you, am I?"

Sam smiled sarcastically and nodded. "_A little._"

They both laughed a bit, and Mila shook her head in confusion. "I don't get your people… you've got all these weird rules and customs… I don't know…"

Curious, Sam tossed the cloth back at Mila jokingly. "Oh…? Like what?"

Before Mila could reply, Sam's headset went off and Larrin's voice cut in. "_Larrin to Colonel Carter. You there Sam?"_

Mila groaned and muttered. "Oh great… now I gotta find Raddy and see if he needs help."

Sam snorted and rolled her eyes, Mila certainly provided some stress relief with her shameless behavior. "Be careful! The tower's still under renovation!"

Shrugging in a nonchalant way, Mila made her way to the stairs and began her search.

"_Hello! Carter? I know you're there somewhere."_

Sam tapped her headset and replied quickly. "Yes! Yes Larrin, I'm here. I'm in Tower D3 working on some conduits… what do you need?"

"_Daniel says he's found some information we need to know from the Outpost. He wants you, Sheppard, Marks, and me there as soon as possible."_

Sam looked down to the mess of tools and welding supplies Mila left on the floor. Groaning softly, she muttered into the headset. "Eugh… Gimme a few minutes… got a little mess to clean up."

**

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"So from what I've been able to translate, the Ancients who came to this galaxy were actually the second wave of their exploration."

Daniel had been feeling much better, and dressed in expedition style clothing, looked rather professional compared to everyone else in the room. Larrin furrowed her brow and questioned. "Ancients? You mean the Ancestors right?"

Sam across from Larrin nodded and replied for Daniel. "They go by many names, but your 'ancestors' were actually the Lanteans, an offshoot of the Alterans who were the originals."

Larrin kept her confused face and turned to John beside her. "You know this?"

John shrugged. "Vaguely…" He shook his head idly in what Sam deduced was a _'this is pointless' _gesture and looked to Daniel. "Moving along?"

Daniel smiled sardonically and nodded. "Right. Well… in any case, it was the Ancients who came here… not the Lanteans." He tapped the console behind him in the conference room and an image of 2 ships came up. "This one is a Stargate Seeding ship, it's designed to go from Galaxy to Galaxy and mine the materials to make stargates and seed them on planets for further exploration."

Marks, seated beside Sam on the left side of the room scratched his eyebrow and spoke curiously. "Wait… so that ship goes between galaxies and can build stargates? How big are we talking about?"

Daniel looked at the schematics and adjusted his glasses. "Well… according this… _Big._" He refrained from chuckling and instead pushed forward. "In any case, that ship would be long gone by now, but it does give us 2 different things that are rather important."

Larrin smiled sarcastically back at Daniel and deadpanned. "Are you gonna tell us or do you want a cookie first?"

Sam couldn't help it and started chuckling, Seeing Daniel give her the _evil_ eye she covered her mouth and shook her head. "Sorry."

Daniel looked to Marks and John, both whom had muted smiles. "Gang up on the smart one… very mature."

Her mission accomplished, Larrin snickered and elbowed John in the ribs. "Alright alright… calm down kiddos. Let the man speak."

And speak he did. "Right! Moving on, after the first ship seeded this galaxy with Stargates, a second ship arrived called "Destiny." "

Sam leaned forward and stared at Daniel. "It wasn't _actually_ called Destiny… you're translating right?"

"Yes… the ship was actually called some long and nearly incomprehensible ancient name… I'm trying to be layman here."

Suddenly blushing, Sam nodded and held back the many questions she had that Daniel would probably answer anyway. "Oh… okay." Unwilling to see if the others were looking at her, she remained with her gaze towards Daniel and his work.

"The Destiny was a manned exploration ship, automatically programmed to go to the galaxies the first ship went to, and give those on board a chance to explore, the database is kinda sketchy on specifics, but we know they left a few people here who established some outposts."

Marks muttered as he looked at the schematic. "Probably resupply as well… god knows it was hell on Daedalus spending 3 weeks on frozen foods… can't imagine more than a few months on that."

'I can!" Larrin said it with a shit-eating grin, obviously annoyed with Marks' comment. "Trust me, as long as they had a few planets with edible plants and animals they were _just fine_."

Daniel was getting a little exasperated now and tersely spoke. "Is this a briefing or a debate?" Seeing Marks and Larrin recede slightly he toned it down. "Good. Now I've been able to deduce that the outpost _does_ contain more information, just needs power to be able to access it. In the meantime though I can tell you that things have changed _significantly_ from when the last recordings were made in that outpost."

John leaned forward and contributed in what he thought was a good addition. "That place was a ghost town. The plants were probably the only thing alive in there except for… _whatever_ the hell attacked us." He looked to Daniel. "Any idea what that thing might have been?"

Daniel shrugged. "Getting to that. Before we discuss that, there is one thing that we should be aware of before anything else." The group remained silent, listening like attentive students. "The Ancients may have explored this galaxy, but they didn't change anything. They put an outpost here and there and began to explore, but they found something… I can't tell what yet, but they left before doing more than just a preliminary exploration."

That was a little surprising to Sam, but seeing that Daniel had more, kept quiet.

Larrin didn't have that method of thinking though. "Found something? And you don't know what yet?"

Daniel shook his head. "Not a clue… all I know is they decided to forgo their typical seeding humans and reorganizing planets that we've seen in Milky Way and Pegasus."

Marks sighed as he thought about it. "So we're unlikely to run into any humanoids?"

Shrugging, Daniel looked back at the screen. "Not necessarily. Hominids are a common form of evolution… but this galaxy is a lot different… Evolution was _natural_ here… the Ancients didn't change anything to suit themselves as far as I can tell."

Now Sam couldn't resist, and she groaned dejectedly. "So basically you're saying that because the Ancients didn't do any terraforming with their Dakara Device… a lot of the planets we might encounter are going to be a lot harsher than what we're used to."

"At the core of it…_yeah_." Daniel sighed, but the next bit was even more confusing. "But this also means we're likely to find species we've never thought of before… We've met the Hebridians, the Re-tu, The Nox… but we're talking a galaxy where humanoid creatures were _not_ given an unfair advantage in evolution. We could theoretically meet _anything_ out there."

The thought was sobering, and the entire group remained silent a moment, John finally spoke breaking the silence. "So what attacked us in the outpost might not even be…_normal?"_

"I guess that depends on your definition of _normal_." Daniel knew John had seen a lot in Pegasus, but his own experience told him to keep an open mind. "There have been many theories of evolution… and I think the Ancients left this galaxy alone because of the wide diversity… It's possible we're the only humanoid beings in the entire _galaxy._"

Sam sighed and rubbed her face. "That's… well… I can't say whether that's a good thing or not, but at the very least it's going to be more difficult to find habitable planets."

Larrin furrowed her brow and looked to Sam "Why would we need more planets? The Mainland could easily hold us all 10 times over.

Daniel shook his head and quickly explained. "That's for sure, but a lot of the refugees we've taken in want to have their own villages separate from everyone else, and while you have your ships, I'm sure you need to resupply even if you're in the area."

Sam nodded and continued where Daniel finished. "It's not clear yet, but we're really hurting for supplies. We need more food, more building materials... it was easy enough back in Pegasus because we could get resupplied from Earth… it's not like that anymore. I've gone over our supply stores and without some form of making our own food… we'll be completely out in 2 months. Let alone the fact that it's going to take a lot of work to get enough crops going to feed all six thousand of us."

Larrin grumbled, it was a common problem to the Travelers and now she had to take her stand. "Alright… 2 months should be enough time to do some exploring. That mainland should have some kind of food and some of my smaller ships would be able to serve as transports." She turned to John. "No offense, but jumpers just aren't big enough for all the jobs we'd need to do."

John blushed ever so slightly, and Sam resisted teasing him. Not only because it would be unfair _(and utterly hilarious) _but she just didn't feel that comfortable around him anymore… and it hurt to admit that.

Keeping his voice stable, John added his own two bits. "Yeah well… on that note. Since we're cut off from Earth, I did a full inventory of our munitions and gear. We can outfit a full platoon or spread it out to maybe a company… I've got a full list I uhh… _emailed_ to you… Sam."

Everyone in the room saw the tension, but none were willing to say anything about it. "Thank you…_John_… I'll go over it later."

A few seconds of awkwardness passed, and Larrin decided to end it. "I've got a list of my supplies too. I want to get a few ships up and exploring for new supplies since we don't have much time, but we can combine our armories at least.

Sam instantly latched on and looked to John. "That's a good idea, you should get to that as soon as possible so we can move ahead."

Larrin was surprised by her forwardness, but shrugged and slapped Sheppard on the shoulder. "Alright, Come on Sheppard. I could use a hand."

John relented easily, _much_ too easily for Daniel and Marks's comfort. They left the control room wordlessly leaving Sam, Marks and Daniel alone.

Marks pushed the odd moment aside and moved forward. "Daedalus is still in pieces. I don't know what the hell happened to the engines back in Pegasus, but I nearly burned out the thrusters trying to take off… guess I oughta thank god for small favors… whatever the hell happened kept us all alive…"

Sam remained silent, though Daniel scratched his chin. "I heard about that… really strange. It's like someone decided to just…" Realization dawned on Daniel, and he looked to Sam. Seeing her beg him with her eyes to not say anything, Daniel decided to try and avoid the issue. "… well… it's over now. I think maybe you should follow suit and get a full inventory of everything we have on Daedalus. Maybe we'll find something useful."

Seeing that he was eloquently being told to get the hell out, Marks nodded and sighed. "Good idea… I've got to get back there anyway. She won't get ship shape on her own." He nodded to Sam, and quickly left the room leaving Sam and Daniel on their own.

**

* * *

**

"So… you still haven't worked it out."

Sam swallowed the bite of her sandwich and groaned softly. "Leave it alone Daniel… I'm serious."

Daniel leaned back in his chair and took a sip of the Traveler equivalent of coffee, much earthier, he actually had taken quite a liking to it. "Normally I would, because I know you have plenty of other stuff on your plate. But this is different Sam and you know it."

Sam took another bite despite not being finished chewing the first. "Dawnel… a'm sear-eeus. Pweas."

Unable to resist, Daniel snickered and sighed. "I can't this time… Sam… you're my best friend. You've _been_ my best friend for over a decade. I've always been there to listen when you're willing to talk, and you've done the same for me…" Daniel waited till Sam was almost done chewing before finishing. "… and I'm telling you right now that you're making a mistake by not dealing with it now."

Sam smiled sarcastically and considered throwing her drink in his face. He'd forgive her…eventually. "Oh really? And how exactly would you know that?"

"Because I forgave Teal'c… and it nearly killed me to take so long."

Her sandwich frozen in mid-air, Sam suddenly remembered what had happened. She set the food back down on her plate and stared at Daniel pensively. "That's not the same Daniel… this whole situation is so different that we can't base things on precedent… you yourself said this Galaxy is unlike any we've seen before."

Daniel raised a finger. "The _galaxy_… not the people." He took another sip of his T-Coffee as he'd been calling it and swallowed before continuing. "If I'm right and there aren't any other humans in this galaxy… then we're all there is… how long'd you say it would take to repair the wormhole drive?"

Sam didn't know exactly what Daniel was saying, but she answered his question none the less. "The conduits are going to take at least 5 months _if_ we can get the resources we need and we keep up this level of work. The Drive itself…" Sam sighed, and thought about what Zelenka had told her. "It'll be a long time… maybe never... it's more fried than a Taco Bell chalupa."

A snort left Daniel's throat, and he rolled his eyes. "Never tried one. Fried foods and me don't agree."

Sam sighed wistfully. "I'd _kill_ for a Big Mac…"

Daniel chuckled and put his mug down. "Well… back on topic, I don't think never… Never was when I stayed on Abydos… Never was when Kinsey shut the SGC down…Never was when…" he froze, and Sam could see the pain in his eyes. _"…when I lost Sha're."_

They were both silent a moment, and Sam took a deep breath before responding. "So what are you trying to tell me Daniel?"

"I'm telling you to stop surviving and start living." Daniel spoke with firm authority. "I've been down that road Sam… it's not pretty. They say a fool doesn't learn from his mistakes… but a wise person does… well there's an addendum to that too. A Genius learns from the mistakes of others."

Sam snorted softly at the vague compliment. "Are you calling me a genius?"

Shaking his head, Daniel looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm calling you a genius who's acting like a fool… and if you keep doing that… all I can hope is you end up wise."

Taking a second to follow his logic, Sam felt slightly offended. "Daniel… I need time okay? Besides everything else on the base you… you don't know the whole story."

"I can guess… and I know about Rodney so you don't have to hide it from me."

Sam had tried to hide the shock earlier, but even now she didn't want to talk about it. "What are you…" She saw Daniel use a finger to point up into the clouds, and instantly knew that somehow Daniel found out. "…how?"

"A little before that last battle in Pegasus… John came and talked to me."

Sam remained impassive…or at least as impassive as she could. "…I see."

"Remember when I said he was terrified?" Daniel lowered his voice, the people eating around them intent on listening and eavesdropping. "I meant it. Of all people he came to _me_ because… well because he's _very_ confused right now."

Feeling guilty, Sam bit the insides of her lips and nodded gently. "I know… He uhh… he went through a lot in those last few days."

"So did you… and the two of you keep building these walls around yourselves." Daniel shook his head and took his glasses off. "Listen… I don't know what happened between you two but it's obvious you're frustrated. When I came to Atlantis, John was a strong leader… these people who joined us joined us because they knew it was the right thing to do. _And_ they had the two of you to follow and look up to.

"Now look at what's happening…Teyla's been telling me that people are scared. They're worried because they see the two of _you_ worried."

Sam's face twitched slightly, she knew that Commanders had to give auras of invincibility to inspire those below them… and she certainly didn't look invincible right now. "Alright… say you're right… what do I do?"

Daniel shrugged. "Not my call…I don't know _why_ the two of you are acting like this." Daniel had a damn good idea given John's admission 2 weeks ago, but he'd decided a _long_ time ago to stay out of Sam's private affairs beyond a little advice. "But whatever it is I trust you to make the right decision… I trust you Sam."

Sam gave Daniel a small sad smile and nodded gently. "You're right… _you're right_…" she looked up at him now. "I'm just not sure I know how."

**

* * *

**

Another hour of welding conduit back in place, and Daniel asked Sam to take a look at some of the information he'd translated from the outpost.

So taking a position in her office, Sam began the task of deciphering what was what in the tangled mass of info.

She'd managed to get through a good amount of it fairly quickly. Mostly geological surveys and some biological testing. She tagged each bit for the proper person to go over, the majority of the data laboratory worthy.

It wasn't until 3 hours into checking it that she finally found something of interest to her. She double checked her figures, and then called Chuck into the room.

The young man entered soon after, dressed in the Traveler clothing Larrin had procured for him. It still didn't feel right to dress in her BDU's either… a constant reminder of what she had done.

In many ways Sam was jealous of the young man. He'd decided of his own accord to be here… and not only that, but he had the uncanny ability to get used to the situation and seemed to be thriving with the Travelers. "Chuck."

The man smiled softly and nodded. "Colonel."

He was so _easy _about all this… a whole new galaxy… new people… _very_ few of his former friends still here… Chuck must have had some strange Canadian resistance to stress because Sam was a few hairs below snapping. "Daniel's been translating the data crystals we secured from the outpost on the mainland. I just found information on the gate system and I was wondering if…"

Chuck smiled as he sat. "If I could work it into the system so we can gate from here?"

Sam smiled, she was _so_ glad that Chuck had decided to stick with them. "Exactly. You're the most familiar with Atlantis's gate systems and while I can work out the planetary drift and gravimetric changes, you still know more than I do about Atlantis's systems."

Normally a Sergeant wouldn't have to listen to this from a Colonel, the Colonel would rarely admit they couldn't do anything. But Chuck understood that rank was really only for dangerous situations now and nonchalantly nodded. "Sure thing… you have the data there?"

Sam tapped a button on her tablet and grinned. "Just sent it to your console." Chuck got back up, but just as he was about to turn Sam held up her hand. "Chuck wait…" She sighed softly and bit down hard. "I uhh…I know this isn't any of my business… But I'm asking as a personal question… nothing to do with the base."

Chuck's lips stretched, already knowing what Sam was going to ask. "Wouldn't have something to do with a blond Traveler who likes teasing people would it?"

Sam chuckled and motioned for Chuck to sit. "Well… not _exactly_." She snorted and shook her head idly. "I'm not asking you to explain Chuck… I…I just guess I wanna know if you're okay with everything that's happened. I'm going to be asking everyone since… well I mean we _are_ alone out here."

Chuck shrugged, his demeanor almost unaffected. "No…no, I'm not okay… but I guess I _am_ a little better off than most since I spent a lot of time with the Travelers before we left… I'd even call some of them my friends now."

Sam nodded, and smiled feeling good for the technician. "I guess that's how you and Larrin…"

Now blushing a bit, Chuck nodded. "Yeah yeah… well…it's nothing serious and if you ask her she'll say the same. The Travelers have a… well…" Chuck seemed to become nostalgic, Sam had to resist bursting out laughing. "You _could_ call it enlightened… but it's more just they're _comfortable_ in any situation_."_ He shook his head as he laughed and squeezed the armrests burning off energy. "I won't lie… it's helped… but hanging out with our people has helped more to be honest… nice to talk and not have to explain what I'm talking about."

Sam drew a deep breath, and realized that Chuck was right. "That's good… I want you to tell me of any problems you might have though… there's only 11 of us here and we've got to stick together."

Smiling, Chuck got up and nodded. There was a hint of…something. Maybe suspicion, but nothing overt or threatening. Perhaps it was just care. "Will do. I'll go take a look at those gate addresses. Any luck and we'll find a nice tropical paradise."

Sam laughed as Chuck walked out into the control room. She took a second to think, and got back to the tablet.

After the Gate Addresses and Galactic Locations, there was a very detailed report on something the Ancients found when they were exploring. Something about a new form of life that they found… _exciting._

Sam tried to get deeper into the file, but found that it was written in a strange variation of the Ancient she'd picked up over the years

She tried to make heads or tails of it, but the words were all jumbled up. Running a quick diagnostic and analysis, it became clear that the file was damaged and would require repair.

Tapping her headset, Sam called the only person who might be able to help her with this. "This is Colonel Carter to Daniel Jackson. Please come in."

Daniel's voice was comically confused. "_Hello? Sam you there?"_ The sound of a babbling child made Sam giggle.

"Daniel? Is that Torren?"

"_Uhh yeah…Teyla's helping me with organizing the refugees into their separate groups and… _ow! No no no! _Don't…Don't…!"_

Sam now started stifling her laughs. She could only imagine what was going on in the office Daniel had taken for himself. "Is there… a problem?"

Teyla's voice came in amidst muffled grunts and Daniel's yammering. "_Yes Sam… Daniel is currently…sparring with Torren over his digital pen."_

"Oh? Who's winning?"

Daniel's voice came in again after admonishing Teyla for laughing. _"Who do you _think_? The kid's as strong as his mom and I'm gonna need a new digipen!"_

"Well you can come up and borrow one of mine, but I have to steal you for a few minutes."

"_Oh? What's up?"_

"There's some information here I think might be useful, but it's in code. I was hoping you could give it a look see."

"_Yeah yeah! I'll be up in a few…just uhh… gimme a few minutes. Gotta find a video to keep this kiddo occupied."_

"Good plan, I'll be waiting."

Sam smiled just thinking of how the oddest circumstances gave her exactly the thought processes she needed.

**

* * *

**

She'd gone to _everyone_, and _everyone_ seemed to be waffling. Radek and Esposito were working and teaching the Traveler Scientists what they knew, but she didn't see the same passion in their eyes she had before.

Dusty and Drake had gone to visit Vega in the infirmary, and their joking had a sad element to it… a sort of resignation Sam knew only too well. Carson was still resentful, but burying himself in work to avoid thinking about how he never had a choice in the matter.

Even the spaztastic Laura Cadman seemed beaten, her voice cheerful but… an edge. Something Sam didn't like to see.

It had taken awhile to work up the courage_ - _along with a shot or two of some blue slivovitz from the bottle Drake had gifted her but she'd never admit it_ -_ but here she was, a big blanket under one arm, drinks and snacks in the other. The tank top and pajama bottoms finished off the ensemble.

Sam walked up to the door and took a deep breath. She knew he was in here, and seeing her would be the last thing he'd expect. The last time she'd been in this situation she'd promised herself to keep her wits about her… but then again the last time she was here to check up on him… not to ask for some company.

The chime rang twice, and a few seconds later John appeared at the door. His hair was ruffled, and his eyes tired. He wore one of his BDU shirts in an open style exposing the center of his chest and black sweatpants "Uhh Sam."

Sam nodded, and decided to try and act aloof. "That's what they call me." She gave a wide grin, obviously fake but she hoped he didn't call her out on it.

John narrowed his eyes and looked at the items in her hands as well as her relative state of undress. The fact that she was wearing her hair loose was the biggest change… "Uhh… headin' to a slumber party?"

"Well… you could say that. I uhh…" Sam bit her lips then bowed her head. "I actually remembered you telling me once that you had the Futurama DVDs. And I was wondering…"

Understanding, John shifted his weight onto one foot and then to the other. "Oh, Uh… well… Sam I… I thought we…"

"I-I know… I uhh… I was wrong."

The look in John's eyes scared Sam, it was frightening to see him suddenly become confused… even more than admitting she was wrong. "Sam… wha… what are you saying?"

"I uhh… I'm trying to apologize." Neither said anything for a moment, and Sam forced the words out. "I… I'm sorry I pushed you away. It was cowardly and… and I don't want to lose my friendship with you.

Gauging his reaction, Sam could see that John was deep in thought. She herself had to resist screaming at the admission she'd just made. "John...? Say something… Please."

John remained silent a moment longer, the spoke quietly. "You'll never lose my friendship… but… I think… _dammit Sam…_" He clenched his fists and looked away as he muttered. "_I… I still don't know what I see… when I look at you."_

He was talking about Rodney. Sam didn't understand exactly what had happened to John but she was coming to understand that perhaps she didn't need to. "John… we… _this…_ _this_ was here _before_ Rodney…_"_

A wince crossed John's face, and he took a deep breath."…I… I know… and…"

Seeing that he was very uncomfortable talking about this, Sam decided to try and peel away his layers in private. "Can I come in?"

Sam could see in his eyes the pain he bore. Despite this the man gulped, and after a moment motioned with his head. "Yeah… yeah…."

He wasn't smiling, but at least now they weren't talking across a doorway.

Neither said anything as Sam laid the blanket on the ground in front of his bed where the Plasma Screen he'd snagged hung on the wall. She'd never really examined John's room before and wasn't too surprised by what she saw inside.

A few dressers, a small fridge, a comfortable bed… quite Spartan to be honest. The most eye catching thing was a model Ferris wheel on his desk. A replica of one back on Earth.

They'd spent a few days going through people's rooms…collecting spare clothes, sheets, various doodads that the expedition had left behind. Sam had locked the personal items away in a storage closet… hoping to return them someday.

Now she sat down and motioned for John to sit, when he turned he had a disc in his hand. "Season 1?"

_Always one for fun…_

"Yeah… makes sense… start at the beginning." It was a double sided question, and the way John's posture shrunk showed Sam he'd gotten the implication.

Sitting now 2 feet beside her, John held the remote in his hands. "... What'd you bring?"

It was an awkward subject, and now Sam could see he was actively avoiding it…maybe it was a bad idea… but Sam couldn't bring things up without his…_agreement._ "Uhh… I dunno actually…I just grabbed one of those snack packs from the mess... Travelers have taken over and it really _has _become a mess." She dumped out the snacks onto the blanket underneath them and examined it. "M&Ms…popcorn…these…" she picked up the oddly shaped red candies. "…_red things…"_

They both laughed softly, and their eyes met for a moment. It wasn't awkward until they held it too long, and John pulled away and clicked the remote.

The episode began, and they both shifted in their seats to be comfortable. Phillip J. Fry went about his daily life in 1999 New York… and accidentally froze himself for a thousand years. Both perceptive eyes like John's or Sam's caught Nibbler's shadow under the chair as well as his third eye in an earlier scene, but neither mentioned it.

John was the first to speak. "You know… I felt a lot like Fry when I came to Atlantis…"

Sam turned her head as she lay back against the foot of his bed. "Oh? I guess that makes sense… I remember briefing you guys and…" She snickered, recalling something. "…I remember you kept fidgeting."

John rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I _told_ you… those Atlantis Jumpsuits chafed some…_tender_ areas."

The both snickered, and after a little pause turned back to the TV.

On the screen, Phillip J. Fry was talking with Leela Turanga for the first time. Leela proceeded to explain that at least in the year three thousand he would be treated with dignity, then she barked at him to strip naked and get on the _'Probulator'_

John groaned softly at seeing Fry hide his shame as he floated in front of the menacing looking machine. "You know… when I first came to the SGC." Seeing he was going to tell an anecdote, Sam scrunched closer, a chill in her arms and popcorn in her mouth. "…Dr. Lam put me through something like that."

Sam giggled and swallowed the popcorn. She was acutely feeling that John's room was colder than the rest of the base. "Couldn't have been _that _bad… I went through the same _dozens_ of times."

Shaking his head, John noticed Sam shivering in the cold. Why she'd come with only a tank top was beyond him. "Actually I asked her that, and she said that because I spent the last few years in Antarctica I needed a more _thorough_ examination than the rest." She shifted in his seat, apparently uncomfortable even as Fry screamed comically off screen.

Sam snickered at both events, and leaned her head against his bed as she wrapped her arms around her. Unwittingly she mimicked Leela's only catchphrase. _"Oh lord…_"

Another few laughs, and as John reached to take some M&Ms out of the bag, he noticed Sam shivering a bit. "You cold?"

A quick little nod, honesty was what Sam needed with him now. "A little… your room is a little colder than the rest of Atlantis… even on _this_ planet."

Grimacing, John reached over his shoulder and pulled his fleece blanket off the bed. "Here…"

Scootching closer, Sam was almost touching John now as she wrapped the blanket around her leaving space for John if he so desired. He didn't move and instead kept his eyes focused on the screen.

Neither said anything, both just snickering at the screen and refusing to look at each other. It wasn't until Fry began to lament that he'd never see his family or his time again that John finally tapped the pause button and turned to Sam. Both were silent for a moment… both caught up in the irony that Fry's words of sorrow meant for them. "Sam…" He stared at her strongly, "…I know why you came down here… and…" he took a breath, waiting just a moment longer before speaking. "… and we need to… _discuss _this…"

"…Yeah… yeah I uhh… yeah."

John could see that Sam had made a tremendous effort to bridge this gap, and now he had to do his part. "I'm… I'm not okay with this yet Sam… I still… I still feel like I've got 2 heads squished in my own." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "…_but I'm losing it Sam_… I… I can't talk to anyone… they just… they _don't know_… and I _can't tell them._"

Sam nodded softly, this was tearing her heart apart but she would _not_ cry. "I… I know… and… I guess you and Daniel are the only ones _I_ can talk to…" Sam smiled just to keep from sniffling. "Daniel… he's my best friend but…" She looked to John and bit the inside of her lips before whispering. "…I need that John… I… I'm not okay with this either but… _ I need this."_

"_Yeah… yeah… me too."_

They both remained silent, and Sam needed to make sure John understood. "Listen…I uhh… I'm here because…. I don't want to wait too long and…" she looked at John and said everything with her sad face.

John understood that pain as well, and nodded as he replied. "_Yeah…"_

The silence between them was overwhelming, on the screen Fry had his head bowed and he'd given up. Leela had sympathized with him though and told him of her own sad story.

Sam knew that even though she could survive on her own… she didn't want to. John evidently didn't either as he continued nodded and waved her closer. "Come here…"

Moving slowly, Sam felt John's hands slip under the blanket and pull her into a close hug.

She still wished it could have been someone else… someone six hundred million light-years away. It hurt to think of what was to come but… but at least now she knew that John would be there for her… and she'd be there for him… "_Stay."_

Sam nodded, feeling John's platonic hug border on something more intimate. "_Yeah…. but… just… don't kiss me."_

John nodded and snuggled her closer. His hands remained on the border of intimacy. "_I know… I uhh…" _without specifically saying it, John agreed that this wasn't going to go anywhere… at least not yet.

Sam nodded and curled her legs up beside him. She reached over and pressed the play button on the remote as she felt John's hand pull her head in close. Bender wanted to join in and shattered Fry and Leela's intimate moment on screen, Sam snickered at the three beers Bender drank on his own to the two others watching in awe. She silently appreciated not having a robot around to ruin her close moment.

The biggest plus for her though was the knowledge that this wasn't settling… and that it didn't even necessarily have to go that way. This … this _thing_ she had with John was for comfort… relief… and with all the rationalizations in her mind, not as inappropriate as the regs that didn't apply anymore screamed at her.

* * *

Daniel was quite excited with the information Sam had given him. Teyla had passed out long ago with Torren in the crib next to her sleeping soundly after watching Toy Story _(one of the only children's movies they still had.)_

The biological information was _fascinating_, and coming from an archeologist who knew next to nothing about biological structures, this was high praise.

There was still much more information to go through, but Daniel knew that as soon as he was finished going over this database, he'd have to ask Sam and John for a favor.

* * *

**Teaser for next Episode.  
**

_**Episode 3 Suspicions **_

_21 Days in Hoag's Object_

**Dusty Mehra**: _"Anyone mind if I say I'm terrified of Volcanoes?"_

**Daniel Jackson:**_ "Oh? Why is that?"_

**Dan Drake:** _ "She's scared of being a Virgin Sacrifice."_

**Dusty Mehra:** _"Like you'd know!"_

**John Sheppard: **_"Hey! If you kids keep this up I'm turning this car around and we're going home!"_

**Dusty Mehra:**_ "__Really!__"_

**Samantha Carter:**_ "No Sarge, we'll just stick you with babysitting duty."_


	3. Suspicions

---------------------------------------------------

_**Episode 3 Suspicions – Daniel's POV.**_

_21 Days in Hoag's Object_

---------------------------------------------------

**Dusty Mehra**: _"Anyone mind if I say I'm terrified of Volcanoes?"_

**Daniel Jackson:**_ "Oh? Why is that?"_

**Dan Drake:** _ "She's scared of being a Virgin Sacrifice."_

**Dusty Mehra:** _"Like you'd know!"_

**John Sheppard:** _"Hey! If you kids keep this up I'm turning this car around and we're going home!"_

**Dusty Mehra:**_ "__Really!?__"_

**Samantha Carter:**_ "No Sarge, we'll just stick you with babysitting duty."_

--------------------------------------------

It had been about a week since Daniel had begun to examine this database. It detailed the biological specifications for a form of life the Ancients had never encountered before.

He'd been so excited when he found specific mention of one encounter that he'd automatically decided to go and find Sam as he knew she'd be excited by this as well.

The chime didn't bring her out of her quarters, so Daniel knocked hard enough for it to reverberate through the halls. He knew Sam was a light sleeper and he was making enough noise to wake the dead.

When she _still_ didn't come out, he tapped on his headset. "Sam, are you there? This is Daniel."

A few moments passed, and Sam's tired voice came in. _"Daniel? Hmmm is that you?"_

"Sam! Where are you?"

Daniel had figured Sam fell asleep at her desk or potentially with a torch in her hand from working all day. He wasn't expecting to hear John curse softly in the background as Sam replied. "_Uhh… I'm uhh…"_

Suddenly realizing he was interrupting her in the middle of…

Well that was just it. _What _exactly _was_ he interrupting?! "Uhh… am I…?"

Sam's answer was vehement and quick. _"No! No no-no-no… uhh…just relaxing… what uhh… What's up?"_

Struggling not to laugh, Daniel kept as professional as he could. "Uhh yeah, I found something in that database you wanted me to translate that I think you and others might be interested in.'

"_Might?__" _Sam was obviously not pleased. _"Daniel… it's 2 in the morning… is this __that__ important?"_

Looking at his watch _(which he really should learn to do before chasing people down) _Daniel winced realizing that the Traveler version of coffee must be a lot stronger than he was used to. "Uhh…no… we can meet in the morning." He stifled his laugh as he heard John in the background groan and curse softly.

Daniel had known Sam for a _very_ long time…so he knew that she would never succumb to any advances… unless she wanted to. And deep in his mind he knew Sam wouldn't do anything that she didn't want to do.

Although it did surprise him that she was so quick to move on… he'd have to have a _private_ talk with her later. _ "Good…meet up at nine?"_

"Sure sure…uhh… have a…_ good night_."

Daniel shut off the link before Sam could yell the glasses off him.

----------------------

"Nothing happened you know?"

Daniel couldn't fight the smirk on his face. Sam looked _very_ well rested. "I believe you."

Sam's foot smacked his shin and he groaned softly from the assault. "_I'm serious Daniel…_ We just…"

Nodding idly, Daniel rubbed his shin with a smile. "I _said_ I believe you."

Threatening to hit him again, Sam glared at him and looked around to make sure no one could see them bickering. "_Daniel!_" She sighed and apparently realized that Daniel was being serious. "We… we just watched TV okay? He's got the…"

Daniel shook his hand from side to side and picked a piece of potato _(At least what looked like potato)_ from her plate. "Sam. All I wanna know is if you're okay."

Sam stopped her yammering, realized that Daniel was simply watching out for her, and after a moment of thinking shook her head. "No… no I'm not okay…" She smiled and took Daniel's hand. "…But I think I will be…"

Daniel knew she was telling the truth now, and seeing that while she was a little embarrassed, she certainly had a much brighter tone to her being, Daniel nodded and smiled. "Good."

-----------------------------------

"What'd you say this was? _Day-jah blue_?"

Daniel winced, his recent talks with Larrin on Earth style vernacular had been going well, but she still had massacres worthy of Chuck's favorite TV show character "Ricky" from Trailer Park Boys. "Uhh… that's _Déjà vu…"_

Shrugging, Larrin leaned back in her chair and with her arms up behind her head, smiled sarcastically. "Whatever. Now what's so important you had to drag us all here?"

Sam, Larrin and John were seated evenly spaced along the conference room. Without Major Marks in the room, it felt a little emptier. Daniel shrugged anyway and pointed to the screen behind him. "Yes. Well as you'll recall, last week I told you guys about this galaxy being quite a bit different from what we're used to." Knowing full well that John and Larrin had much less patience than Sam, he jumped into the point of the briefing at top speed. "One of these thing is different forms of evolution…" He tapped a button and what appeared to be a crystal appeared on screen. "And here it is… Silicon based Life forms."

Sam became wide eyed, the implications were _staggering._ "Are you _serious _Daniel!?"

John shirked away from the suddenly excited woman, Larrin did a double take and they both spoke the same words. "_What!?"_

Looking at each other, Daniel popped his lips and moved on. "Yes Sam… It's true."

Her mouth open, Sam seemed utterly shocked. "That's… _wow_. Even in the Milky Way or Pegasus the closest we ever came was energy based lifeforms living in crystals… but _silicon based life!?"_

John quickly perked up, Daniel noticed he seemed a bit worried. "This isn't another of those Freddy Krueger things is it? Because if it is you can count me out."

Sam shook her head in response, Daniel felt so lucky to have a mind like hers on his side. "_Freddy Krueger?"_

Turning to him, Sam spoke in her typical no nonsense tone. "A few months after I arrived in Pegasus, John's team found an energy based life form that could feed on people's… well… emotions for lack of a better word. It gave us nightmares and fed off the fear." She winced and looked to John. "It uhh…it impersonated John."

John rolled his eyes and groaned. "You never told me you had it too!"

Sam shrugged and became a little bashful. "Didn't want to creep you out more at the time."

"What'd he do!?"

Daniel interrupted. "Guys? Can you discuss that later? Briefing here?"

Both relented, but Larrin seemed intent on hearing more. "Sound interesting. My people never came across something like that. What happened?"

John sighed and waved his hands to emphasize his point. "We eventually got it back into its crystal form and took it back to its planet… Kicked my ass first but that's a different story."

Daniel scratched his chin as Larrin snickered. He recalled something of his own and decided to try and steer the conversation back to his lead. "That reminds me of that crystal life form we found on SG1 that first year… remember Sam?"

Nodding, Sam recounted it. "Yeah… I thought the same when we found it here. Except the one that attacked then Colonel O'Neill was accidental, not deliberate."

Larrin didn't understand half of what was being said, but enough to tease John. "Poor Sheppard… never catch a break."

Everyone resisted their chuckles except for John, and Daniel moved on. "Right! Well, the implications of this type of life are numerous. First off, it could likely survive in _extremely_ harsh environments. Secondly, it would be a form of life that we know _absolutely_ nothing about. How does it think? How does it _move?_"

Larrin furrowed her brow. "You going somewhere with this?"

Having known Larrin for a few months now, Daniel replied quickly. "Actually yes. Thirdly there are many scientific applications… There's also mention of one of these lifeforms living on this planet. The main nest is supposedly near a volcano to the south. I think it would be worth our while to investigate."

Still not convinced, Larrin made a curious sound in her throat. "What could we gain by studying this thing? Most of my technicians are working on that outpost and it's nearly operational. I can't spare anyone unless it's for a good reason."

Sam leaned forward and began to explain, and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't have to explain things he just didn't know well enough. "Larrin, a silicon based life form would be like growing capacitors and conductors. If we could understand how it grows, we'd be able to replace our standard wires and manufactured crystal controls for superconductive materials. I'd be willing to go myself so you don't have to spare any of your people." A glow went across her eyes, and she looked to Daniel who instantly recognized her _'I have an idea' _look. "Daniel! Do you think this might be the starting point to making ZPMs?"

Daniel shrugged. "It's possible. For all we know ZPMs are grown… it would certainly explain why we've never been able to find any manufacturing plants."

John perked up, instantly seeing the advantage. "ZPMs? As in we might be able to build them?"

The discussion became heated when Larrin joined in. "I thought the Potentia Atlantis had were still half full… the Wormhole drive ate a lot up but…even if we had the shield and the entire city turned on, my great grandkids'll still have plenty of power once we get the conduits repaired.."

Daniel furrowed his brow to her, his tone deadpan. "And what? We can't use more?"

Unable to answer such a simple question, Larrin remained silent in contemplation. John took the opportunity to inject into the conversation. "Right, volcano? _How_ close to a volcano?"

Shrugging, Daniel brought up the information and continued. "Yes… from what the scanty biological details I've been able to figure out, these creatures are cold blooded. As in they don't produce heat through their own bodies and need to absorb it from somewhere else."

"That's fascinating… and in some ways it makes sense." Sam was musing now, speaking as she thought. "A creature like that would stick to the warmer regions of the planet, as strange as it sounds, a fiery volcano would be the best place for it on a planet like this. It could probably _swim_ in the lava to get the heat it needs."

"Whoa whoa _whoa!_" John held a hand up feeling as if he was the only sane one in the room. "Last volcano I saw took out a planet and nearly fried my ass!"

Larrin smirked, and Sam blushed a bit at his wording. Daniel rolled his eyes seeing the inadvertent effect John had on woman and decided to end this. "In any case… the volcano _I'm_ speaking of hasn't been active in ten thousand years. The radiant heat is what's attracting them and since as a silicon based life form, they'd likely eat totally different foodstuffs…"

John blinked a few times and then sighed. "This isn't going to turn into that star trek episode where that big rubber vomit thing is fighting those miners?"

Reacting with her inner geek, Sam replied without thinking. "Oh you mean the Horta?"

Everyone in the room stared at her, Albeit for different reasons, Daniel couldn't help but feel amused at his friend's sudden embarrassment over being an inner Trekkie. Her blushing cheeks could be so cute sometimes. "Uhh… No John… The creatures I'm talking about are more like a semi solid crystal. The specific data in the database is sketchy but that's why I think we should try and examine them."

The group all nodded, and the mission was a go. Sam got up and excused herself with John quickly catching up and demanding to hear what his dream inhabiting doppelganger had made her relive.

Daniel was just about to go and find a cup of coffee when Larrin ambushed him. "Daniel?"

"Yeees?"

"What the hell is a Horta?"

Realizing that the Travelers still didn't see the point of TV, Daniel began to consider the possibility of setting up movie nights to introduce them to Earth culture.

**------------------- Chapter 2 -------------------**

"Anyone mind if I say I'm terrified of Volcanoes?"

Dusty fidgeted around in her seat in the back of the Jumper, Daniel had made it his personal mission to get to know the renegades as much as possible. With the Sergeant, Lieutenant Drake, and Dr Esposito here with him along side Sam with John flying, he took the opportunity to 'bridge' some relations. "Oh? Why is that?"

Drake smirked and moved slightly out of reach of Dusty's fist. "She's scared of being a Virgin Sacrifice."

Not using her fist, Dusty tossed an empty pouch that she ripped off her vest at him and gave him a death glare. "Like you'd know!"

Esposito snickered at the two soldiers bickering, and Daniel stayed well clear before John's strong voice broke through from the front. "Hey! If you kids keep this up I'm turning this car around and we're going home!"

Dusty's eyes brightened up._ "Really!?"_

Sam's laugh surprised everyone, and she turned over her shoulder. "No Sarge, we'll just stick you with babysitting duty."

Deflating dejectedly, Dusty held back her immature words. "Yes ma-am…" She still scowled at Drake who sat back with his grin a mile wide.

So when Sam turned to the Lieutenant and stared at him. He quickly found himself stiffening to attention. "Ma'am?"

Sam took a second, then spoke with conviction. "That goes for you too Lieutenant, I don't want any shenanigans here. This is a hazardous environment and you're here to help us find this thing. You can flirt all you want later."

Drake's cheeks began to blush, and Dusty smiled even though she'd been dressed down as well. "Yes ma-am…."

Esposito waited till Sam turned back and sat in the passenger seat chatting with Colonel Sheppard, Daniel saw her smile at the Lieutenant and tease him with her long curly hair. "You heard the Colonel, Lieutenant. I trust we'll have no problems…_working_ together."

As if his cheeks weren't red enough, Now with both Daniel and Dusty stifling their laughs, the Lieutenant had no choice but to roll his eyes and remain professional. "Oh no…no problems at all_… ma'am._"

Daniel laughed and patted the soldier next to him's shoulder. He remained silent though as the others now chatted amicably.

He only paid minor attention to the conversation and instead examined the people themselves.

Dusty seemed relatively easy going, in a much better mood than most of the others. Her smile and gung-ho attitude had only been exacerbated by Ronon's tutelage and the dark leathers of the Traveler clothing beneath her tacvest melded well with her darker skin. There was something else there though… and Daniel could tell she was hiding it under such a cheerful demeanor.

Esposito on the other hand seemed a bit unhinged. She joked around, spoke with the others often, but Daniel could see that something was holding her down… something that Daniel could almost definitely imagine was Earth… and the fact that she'd probably never see it again.

When he'd asked, She'd told him that she was staying because she'd never get the same respect and opportunities Atlantis gave her… and that in part, she was here to honor Rodney McKay who had fought to keep her on his team after an incident. She also said to call her Rafaela, Something Daniel did gladly.

Drake was… _different._ He acted as if everything happening was normal. Daniel had taken a look at his file and saw that the man had a troubled background, and he was actually a bit of a black sheep. He'd fought his way to reach even Lieutenant and get assigned to the Daedalus.

His name had been changed as well, and Daniel realized why the USMC had given him such a hard time despite his obvious talent with engineering.

Finally Daniel looked to where Sam and John were. The two of them had restored their friendship to what he'd seen prior to the coup and it made him smile. He trusted Sam when she said she was going to be okay, and whatever it was the two of them were doing (_seeing how they weren't all lovey dovey or humming Daniel __did__ believe her when she said __nothing happened__)_

It was good for morale as well, and the others back on Atlantis had seen it and been encouraged. Daniel was just glad to see Sam smiling again.

"Alright kiddos! We're setting down in 5, Get those heat suits on and whatever you do, _do not _take them off!"

Dusty groaned softly as she picked up her helmet. "And I just did my hair."

Rafaela sighed as well and pulled her long hair into a bun. "Colonel Sheppard's right, it might get a little sticky inside but it's 10 times better than the heat outside." She put the helmet on and clicked the built in radio. "I've done this before, so just make sure you watch your footing and don't hesitate to take a break."

The entire group quickly began to don their gear, and Drake decided to be a comedian. "By. Your. Command."

Daniel groaned softly as he felt the Jumper touch down on the ground. Granted he _chose_ to come to this galaxy, but he'd have to teach these younger marines a thing or two about comedy.

**------------------ Chapter 3---------------------**

"Creepy…"

Daniel tried not to pay attention to the nervous Sergeant next to him and instead focused on the movement ahead. "It's probably just some wildlife… the tunnels might have more animals than we were expecting."

Dusty froze and turned her head to him. "And that's supposed to reassure me?"

Ahead, Sam and John were on point examining the soil itself with Dr Esposito. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed much more comfortable with each other.

Beside him, Drake used a scanner to map out the tunnels beneath them. "It's not too hot for a volcano… the oxygen's pretty thin so turn your respirators on when we get down there." He clicked a few buttons and furrowed his brow. "Lot of refractive minerals in the ground…messing up the scans."

Daniel grumbled softly and looked around. The gentle slope wasn't what he expected a volcano to be, but the heat waves in the distance up the hill were more than enough to keep him edgy.

The forest ended about a hundred feet to the north, lush green and verdant from the excess carbon dioxide in the air. Daniel couldn't help but feel nostalgia from his prior years on SG1.

He'd had to become more and more combative as time went by… to defend what he loved… First Anubis, then the Ori… It felt like ages since he could just explore and discover things he never knew could have existed. "Well it's obvious they're not on the surface. I think we should start exploring the outer tunnels. Maybe we'll get lucky and find one of these things just sitting around."

Sam and John moved closer with Esposito in tow. "We're going to move a little closer to the center of the volcano. The soil is giving some strange readings and I want to get some core samples from different heights."

John didn't look too thrilled, but he motioned to the Marines. "That means you two get to babysit Jackson. Try and find one of these LCD things and radio in."

Furrowing her brow, Sam cocked her head which was made all the funnier by the heat shield clothing she was wearing. "Liquid Crystal Display?"

Rolling his eyes in frustration, John turned and rocked his head to get her to follow. "You know what I mean…"

The group chuckled, and the tension from being atop a volcano lessened. Drake took point with his scanner ahead as he neared a cave entrance. "Alright… this one looks pretty stable. No explosives, the shockwave'd kill us all."

Dusty gave him a sarcastic grin. "Good thing Captain Boom Boom's back home."

Daniel rolled his eyes and almost wished he'd gone with Sam and John. "Yes well let's try and survive this one. I've died enough times to know that it's not very pleasant."

Dusty chuckled while Drake gave a confused look. Daniel knew the Sergeant knew of his close encounters with the great beyond, but the Lieutenant was apparently unaware. "Enough times? You've died, as in multiple times?"

Jumping down into the giant tunnel that easily fit all three of them at once, Daniel flicked on his headset flashlight and raised his hands to the side. "Boo."

Perhaps he shouldn't be playing around so much, but seeing Dusty begin to get nervous, Daniel decided that camaraderie would see them through without the panic attacks. Her snickers helped to prove his point. Daniel took point and pulled out his own scanner, searching for any signs of movement.

The rock face around them was charred and very loose. Daniel scraped it with his finger and found that only the outer layer was like that and the inside was as solid as…well that was just it. It _was_ rock!

Drake took a second to input a few commands into his scanner, and then blowing a sigh and then attempting and failing to wipe his forehead, muttered over the Squad Com. "Something's really weird here."

"No shit Sherlock, we're in a tunnel where _lava_ passes through. Never signed up to the Corps for this."

_Probably claustrophobic…_ Daniel tried to think of a way to calm the fidgety sergeant, but seeing none pushed ahead. "What's weird Lieutenant?"

Tapping another few buttons Drake cursed softly in Serbian. "It's strange… you'd think mineral deposits would get bigger and denser the deeper you go down, but I'm detecting the exact opposite. It's mostly carbon and other non-ferrous minerals down there."

Daniel furrowed his brow and thought about it for a second. "Well... I'm no expert, but could it be that a silicon based life form digests a different form of element than us?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Drake nodded. "It's possible… how the hell it gets to it is another question."

Remaining silent, the group moved ahead slowly. They'd gone ahead about 50 feet when Dusty held up one fist.

Now more tense than ever, Dusty raised her particle magnum and kept very still. "Did any of you guys hear that?"

Daniel shook his head, a little surprised. "No… what'd you hear?" A very gentle _tapping_ sound came from ahead. "Okay… _that_ I heard."

Both Marines raised their particle magnums. The Traveler Weapon made a good addition to the automatic projectile weapons the Expedition used and the combined Armory was quite well stocked.

Drake took point, his being the highest ranked soldier here must have stuck in his mind. "Sounded like knocking or tapping."

"Any chance it's _not_ what we're looking for?"

Daniel turned to Dusty and cocked his head. "Have you ever been that lucky?"

Now determined, the group moved ahead towards the sound. It slowly grew in intensity, along with the width of the tunnel until finally culminating in a wide chamber.

Daniel resisted making a _"Horta" _comment and looked around. The tapping sound seemed to be coming from the far corner. He moved ahead without fear, and saw something move in the shadows.

He stopped, and pulled the headlamp off into his hand to aim it properly. He held it up and aimed it down to the ground.

Whatever it was, it scurried off quickly, the 2 Marines behind him heard the rustle and aimed their weapons. Daniel held out his hands blocking their shots. "W-w-wait! Don't shoot!"

Daniel aimed the flashlight again and pointed it at the ground, what looked like a giant crystal slithered on the ground ahead of them. A bluish paste remained behind it steaming like…

Dusty instantly stiffened and groaned. "Oh that is _so_ not right…"

Drake pulled out his scanner, and quickly took a reading of the environmental conditions. "It's definitely silicon based… I'm detecting carbon though… a lot of sulfuric acid on the ground and in the rocks… looks almost like it's leeching minerals from the ground…" He became quizzative and did a scan of the air. "…It's giving off a lot of silicon dioxide…that's that nasty stuff it's leaving on the ground."

Daniel was more interested in how it didn't exactly seem afraid of them, and now moved towards the light. "It likes my flashlight," He tapped his headset and called out. "Sam, this is Daniel, do you read?"

A little static washed in, but they weren't so deep in the ground that the signal couldn't get between them. _"Daniel… this is Sam… we've found evidence of __something__ living here. Haven't seen anything yet though. You?"_

Intrigued, and now kneeling to the slowly approaching creature, Daniel replied softly. "Well we found…_something_… it's about the size of a cat and looks…" Unable to think of a proper word, Daniel went with his wit. "…like a centerpiece in a really expensive kitchen."

Both Drake and Dusty kept their weapons on the little creature, now very detailed in the light.

It was about 15 inches long and 6 inches tall, it had 6 limbs that moved rigidly, and what they'd originally thought was its body turned out to be an exoskeleton of sorts composed of crystal.

"_See if you can contain it using a specimen jar. Take a reading of the air and surrounding area so we can replicate it on the base." _Dr Esposito's professional voice said everything that Daniel had in the back of his mind.

The creature moved forward, and the two front limbs rose up towards the flashlight. Daniel looked to Dusty and Drake and nodded to get them to cover him. Both aimed their weapons and nodded.

Lowering the flashlight, Daniel watched as the limbs seemed to stretch out and grip onto the front casing.

With surprising force, the creature pulled it out of his hands and pulled the whole thing towards itself. "Whoa whoa whoa! Let's see what it does!" Daniel kept the others from firing, watching intently as the creature quickly broke the casing, and with surprising agility and dexterity, pulled the batteries out.

The creature seemed to glow now, almost as if it had absorbed the light energy and used the exoskeleton to maintain it. Daniel knew a little about silicon based life-forms, but he needed Sam or at least someone with a strong scientific background to detail what was happening.

The creature's fore limbs suddenly spread as if a hand opening, and surrounded each battery. It began to tremble and shake slightly, but within seconds it had stopped. The glow remained and the creature now moved towards Drake who had the nearest flashlight. "Jackson…?"

Enough examination, Daniel pulled the specimen container from his backpack. Something akin to a pet carrier except completely encased in reinforced glass. He reached forward with one hand and gently grabbed the creature from its mid-section.

It was a lot heavier than it looked, but Daniel was still able to pick it up. It was shockingly cold and as he put it into the glass specimen jar, the glass fogged over from condensation. "Whew… this thing is _ice_ cold…" He flexed his hand and noted that the heat shielding on his glove had frozen over and cracked from the movements. "Let's get back to Atlantis… I'm suddenly not so comfortable here."

Dusty nodded and quickly led the way back to the surface. "I hate it when I'm right."

**---------------------Chapter 4--------------------**

"It's a silicon/carbon hybrid."

Daniel blinked once, looked to Sam who seemed unsurprised, then turned back to Reyna. "Sorry. I study cultures and languages. Do you mind explaining in a really simple way?"

Sam smiled sarcastically and turned to Daniel. "It's not as complex as it sounds. For a _real_ silicon based form of life to exist, so many variables have to go right for it that it could theoretically only exist in a few specific places. What would be extremely hazardous to us like an ammonia swamp, would actually be quite pleasant to a Silicon based lifeform."

Reyna nodded and pointed to the creature inside the larger isolation chamber. They'd replicated the conditions inside the cave as closely as they could and were taking detailed scans now. "While its body and even exoskeletal structure are silicon based, it seems to digest just about anything from Carbon to Sulfur. It's a very strange thing indeed."

Sam rubbed her chin and turned to Reyna. "We took some core samples from a few sections deeper inside the cave system. Most of the silicon in the ground has been leeched out and what's left if a lot of silicon dioxide in sand form."

Daniel recalled the state of the walls of the tunnels. "Is that why the tunnels were coated in that soft stuff?"

Nodding, Sam tapped her headset. "Most likely. Far as I can tell it's uhh…"

Daniel could see that Sam didn't want to say it, so he just deadpanned it. "Poo?"

Ironically giving him a shit-eating grin, Sam nodded. "Yeah…" She resisted her chuckle and tapped her headset "… Larrin?"

Turning to the isolation room and not paying attention to Sam's conversation on the headset, Daniel watched as the now somewhat larger creature expelled a puff of sand from its back and moved on to the next rock they'd brought, one specifically laced with silicon and neutronium. "How does it leech the minerals out?"

From behind him, Carson appeared holding a tablet. "Aye lad, I've just been testing that out, From what we can tell it uses acid to break down the parts it ingests to bare minerals." He smiled at Reyna who quickly moved aside to let the doctor stand by the glass viewport. "I've had to deduce from the scans, but I think we're looking at the results of a simple carbon based lifeform evolving in a silicon rich environment. The carbon molecules combined with the silicon at an early stage in its development, and what we've ended up with is a cold blooded creature that can digest just about any mineral to repair its body. Its hydration comes from ammonia for the most part, but it can easily use water or even sulfuric acid like this little guy has."

Sam furrowed her brow and tapped on the glass. "Wouldn't the oxygen cause the silicon in it to oxidize into silicon dioxide?"

Daniel interjected remembering what Drake had said. "Actually, Lieutenant Drake said that he was picking up a lot of that stuff. It came out in this thick gooey paste and from what I've seen in there, it's got a blowhole of some sort."

Sighing, Carson nodded and got their attention again. "Aye, it's the most curious life I've ever encountered. It has no brain or even heart system that I can detect, and while its outer shell is solid, it can split itself open to expel any waste materials.

"In as close an examination as I can give without dissecting the little guy, it's fully capable of changing its shape at will to a certain degree. If it requires hydration, it will expel the silicon dioxide in the form of sand. If it has a source of hydration which in the case of the cave was sulfuric acid, it leaves the paste like substance in order to reduce its oxygen intake."

Daniel shook his head looking at the creature. "Wouldn't have expected something like this to exist huh?"

Reyna shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Not naturally, no. it's the strangest thing I've ever come across. It can survive in just about any environment, and as long as it has a source of heat or energy, it can survive for weeks if not months without feeding."

Carson waved to the nearby Traveler Orderly to move into the room in hazmat gear. "We're going to be scanning it now to test what exactly happens when a source of energy is nearby. We're assuming that it can somehow detect energy and instinctively moves towards it to absorb it."

Sam seemed to stiffen a bit and ground her teeth. "Is that safe? We have no idea what might happen."

With a soft sigh, Reyna said. "It's a calculated risk, once we can scan it we can find out for a fact how it…"

Her elegantly spoken words were halted as the doors to the Isolation room opened, and the Traveler entered with what appeared to be a car battery. The Creature immediately changed attention from the rock and with shocking speed lunged forward towards the Traveler.

The man reacted fast, letting go of the battery and diving to the side, The Creature missed him and caught the battery in mid-air as it skidded out the rapidly closing door.

Carson and Reyna both sprung into action, Daniel hastily getting out of their way. Sam grabbed Daniel's sleeve and quickly pulled him aside as she barked into he radio. "This is Colonel Carter! Evacuate Tower C-5 immediately! We've had a containment breech and the lifeform we brought back from the mainland is loose! Security teams on call now!" She turned to Daniel. "We're gonna see if we can track that thing…"

Daniel nodded quickly and followed Sam. She seemed so much more alive since his talk with her last week and this was proof enough. She quickly waved the security teams heading their way, and with grace accepted a weapon, which she then tossed one to Daniel.

It wasn't his style to be armed while on base, but the circumstances called for it.

They had just run around the bend when they heard particle magnum fire from ahead. A pair of Traveler Security men fired their weapons vainly, but as Daniel skidded around the corner, the creature had developed a Spiderman level of agility and bounced between the walls quickly.

Each shot that actually _did_ hit the creature did no appreciable damage. The creature instead seemed to grow stronger with each hit and lashed out with its limbs.

The Travelers fell back quickly, and Sam managed to nail it twice with the overcharge feature of the magnum doing no damage. She quickly saw that the creature had somehow grown and was about the size of a German Sheppard. Certainly, it was as ferocious as one could get. "_Run_ Daniel!"

The attack quickly turned into a retreat, and Daniel fell back in a grasshopper formation covering Sam. The Creature now seemed bloodthirsty, chasing them as it bounced along the walls, ceiling and floor leaving smoky dents.

It came as a surprise to Daniel to see Ronon suddenly appear from inside the Transporter ahead of them, his angered face was something out of a horror movie. The SCAR-H in his arms with a drum clip certainly made him imposing.

"_Get down!"_

Beside Ronon, John crouched holding a P90 and waving the retreating group down.

Daniel didn't want to kill the creature. All it had done was try and survive. It sensed the car battery and in the confusion, nobody realized that the Particle Magnums would mostly likely only feed it. The P90 and SCAR-H on the other hand would shatter it like a hammer to a pane of glass. "No _wait_!"

Nobody listened, and he felt Sam grab his shirt and yank him to the floor to avoid the spray of bullets.

The Creature hissed loudly as the combination fire began to chip away at it. It stopped bouncing forward and now tried to run away, obviously injured. A piece of its shrapnel snapped off and landed in front of Daniel as he lay on the floor.

The broken limb oozed the same paste he'd seen before, and it sizzled and burned a divot into the ground. The smell of burning metal made Daniel sick.

Ronon rushed forward bullying his automatic weapon into accuracy. The creature had lost most of its limbs now and struggled to get away. Ronon didn't give it a care though and neither did John.

With surprising efficiency, they gave it a pair of bursts each and finally put an end to its misery. The steaming carcass left was spread all along the hallway, the creature having been shattered from the hailstorm of bullets.

Sam got up first and helped Daniel to his feet. "Okay… that was unexpected."

Daniel nodded and looked at the dead creature. He couldn't help but wonder if it had been attacking on purpose…or instinct.

**-----------------Chapter 5-----------------**

"Just seems like such a waste…"

Sam sat across from Daniel with John beside her, She'd since replaced her desk with a more comfortable table as she had much less paperwork to do since leaving Pegasus. "I know… and I would have preferred to take it alive. But at least now we can study it in detail and maybe find out how to communicate with it or at least stun it without harming it."

John rubbed his face, his 8 o'clock shadow making a raspy sound. "The point is… that thing seemed completely harmless until a source of energy was nearby. Larrin was about to order one of her ships to blast that volcano into dust but i managed to convince her otherwise."

Shaking his head and getting up, Daniel couldn't take it much longer. "Is that what we're here for? To meet new life and cultures and kill them?"

Sam winced at Daniel's inadvertent mimicking of Full Metal Jacket, and shook her head. "Daniel that's not fair. We had no idea it would turn hostile."

"That's just it. For all we know it's as smart as a potato! It might have sensed the energy in those guns and just been trying to feed!"

Sam gulped and nodded. "Actually we're pretty sure that's exactly what it was… As soon as it had ingested the energy from the battery pack, it latched onto the wall and absorbed a lot of the minerals right from the alloy. Once the security teams started shooting at it, it just got stronger and bigger at an exponential rate."

"Lucky me and Ronon were in the armory…" John mused. "Wasn't for those bullets working and that thing might have found a power conduit or something. Reminds me of that energy creature when we first came here."

Sam turned and instantly latched on. "I thought so too, I remember reading the report when…"

Daniel felt his inner O'Neill rise up. "_Excuse me!_"

Both Colonels silenced and nodded to Daniel.

"Sorry."

"Yeah… sucks what happened."

Daniel sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he took off his glasses. "The only _real_ consolation is that at least that thing probably wasn't intelligent. We might get some useful information but I don't think we should try and get more of them."

Sam nodded and rubbed her hands together. "Agreed, I'll make sure any refugees that want to try and settle the mainland stay clear of that area. The Travelers have finished with the outpost and we've got full gate access to this galaxy. We're moving the gate into Atlantis tonight and tomorrow and we'll start sending recon teams."

With the change of subject, John got up and stretched his arms. "Good thing the Travelers have rebuildable probes we can send through the stargates. We're down to 15 Malps and I'd rather not waste them."

Sam sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I know…we're going to have to be very cautious about using resources that we can't replace anymore. I even had a team pick up all those shell casings so we can reforge them if needed."

Seeing that neither Colonel was very distressed over the death of the exotic creature, Daniel scoffed softly and left the room wordlessly. He didn't bother to turn his head when they asked where he was going.

Wandering the city had grown to be a hobby of his. There were still unexplored areas and Daniel appreciated being able to explore in the comfort of his new home.

It all felt wrong though, and like it or not, he eventually ended up in the same hallway outside the quarantine lab of the infirmary. The walls were still dented and corroded, the minerals from each hit having been leeched into the creature.

Unfair… it was unfair to simply kill the thing because they didn't understand it. Daniel was reminded of the Unas…and the near tragedy _that_ had become. He wondered how Major Lorne was doing back in the Milky Way… whether or not he was being held accountable for what happened.

His walk eventually led him into the infirmary where a tired looking Reyna and Carson worked through a glove box to examine the creature. "Hey."

Reyna turned her head up and smiled sadly. "Hi Doctor Jackson… It's good to see you're okay."

Daniel pulled a half grin and sighed as he looked down at the decomposing remains of the creature. Its own sulfuric acid that it used for hydration was slowly eating away at it. "Better than this guy."

Carson seemed appreciative of Daniel's mood and motioned over his shoulder. "We're still not done examining it lad. I promise you'll be the first to know everything we have… Teyla's inside with Torren if you'd like."

Seeing that he was being pushed away so they could work in peace, Daniel sighed and nodded. "Alright… but don't worry about telling me first."

None of them said anything, and Carson got back to peeling the silicon exoskeleton off the creature.

Daniel moved lethargically, and eventually he found Teyla standing by a crib with Torren babbling softly on a little bed in front of her. "Daniel… I hear there was some excitement earlier."

"If you call killing a creature of unimaginable curiosity excitement…"

Teyla smiled sadly, and motioned for Daniel to sit across from her. When Daniel hesitated, she raised her voice. "_Sit."_

Not one to anger a woman who could kick a Wraith's ass, Daniel did as he was told. "Hey…play nice. Torren might learn from you."

Teyla snickered and took a moment to adjust Torren's seat before looking to Daniel. "He is ready for his vaccinations. Most children on Athos would have gone through several illnesses during their childhood to develop a strong enough immune system to survive in the wild."

"Which means he'll grow up to be a big and tough boy… I'm sure Ronon'll have fun training him."

Teyla shook her head vehemently and giggled. _"Nooo! _Not until he is at least strong enough to spar…" She sighed ruefully. "…If he even wishes to learn."

Daniel stuck his hand out, and Torren babbled as he slapped playfully at it. Daniel was reminded of Shifu for a moment, then shook his head of the memory. "Teyla… I watched that creature die… it tried to run away… it had instincts."

A few moments of silence, and Teyla turned her head to where one of the Travelers lay in bed with a broken arm. "Revas over there? The creature broke his arm when he tried to stop it. It tore his weapon from his hands and broke all five of his fingers." She remained stoic as she spoke. "Instincts do not mean its intentions are harmless, or benign.

Daniel considered her words, but he still felt bothered. "It would have never been here if I hadn't brought it. It'd still be alive down there." He took a moment to play with Torren, then mused. "I never thought I'd come here to kill something… I've had enough death in my life."

Moving her hand, Teyla took Daniel's in hers and squeezed. "I have heard your stories… you have seen as much death and devastation as I… and you have fought against it." Daniel didn't reply, only squeezing her hand back. "Sometimes the lines between protecting what we love and collateral damage become blurred. Many times have I seen the best intentions lead to catastrophe…" She smiled at Daniel and hoped her words soothed him. "This was not your fault Daniel… and if it helps… I would have done the same… Not only for my own defense…" she let the words linger, and looked to Torren who now began to pout.

Daniel remained silent and thought about it. The Goa'uld were deserving of their fate… thousands of years of slavery and possession of human hosts left little sympathy in his heart for them. The Ori were gone… dead at his very hands… he'd thought his days of killing and destroying were over… but it seemed that no matter where in the universe he was, there was always something to threaten his and his family's safety.

And his family was worth defending.

------------------------------------------

"Any luck so far?"

Sam nodded, and shivered slightly. "Yeah! 3 out of the 14 planets we've dialed look habitable and the Traveler Probes are a lot more mobile than our MALPs or even UAVs."

John moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay? It's not that cold is it?"

Sam shirked a little at his touch, Chuck _was_ standing nearby reading up on the telemetry and Zelenka still working out the last little bits of the new stargate, the violet chevrons a new sight for Sam. "No no… it's just… well this gate has a higher concentration of Naquadah than the Milky Way or Pegasus gates."

John raised an eyebrow in surprise. He didn't know they'd examined the gate _that_ closely. "Uhh okay… you see a report I didn't?"

Sam shook her head and John could feel the tingle go up her spine. "No I uhh… I can sense Naquadah."

A few moments of silence, and John could tell that there was likely a hard story behind this. "Uhh…"

"Remember I told you about the Tok'Ra that took over me?" John nodded. "Yeah… ever since… I get a little tingle when Naquadah's around… the denser and closer it is…"

John rubbed her shoulder affectionately and saw she was uncomfortable. He let go and after a small look to each other, moved over to where Larrin was seated in front of them coordinating the launch of her people's ships. "Everything okay with them?"

Larrin nodded and pulled her headset off. "Yeah… they'll go to planets with ancestral rings first and do geological reports. Any luck and we'll find a nice farming planet or a civilization to trade with."

John shrugged, from what he'd read of the reports Daniel had made, it was unlikely any humans were left in the galaxy, and if there were, it was doubtful they'd cross paths any time soon. "Let's hope… but I'm not relying on it. Once we clear a planet, I want to send refugees right away. The sooner they can start growing crops, the sooner I can stop eating 3 bean salad."

Larrin turned with a raised eyebrow. "You don't like that stuff? It's _great!_ A lot better than the freeze-dried stuff my people have."

Shrugging, John mused. "Point taken…I'd still kill for a nice thick steak."

From behind, he heard Sam move off towards her office. He felt like following her, especially after the incident today he knew she must be feeling pretty bad over what happened with Daniel, but they'd agreed… twice a week…

Futurama, snacks, maybe a beer and a little pillow talk… It was still just a tad awkward for him since they didn't know exactly what they wanted from each other… and somewhere in the back of his mind the 'rules' that didn't matter were still yelling at him.

But it could wait. They had nothing but time now and he'd promised Marks to give him a hand once the refugees were settled.

---------------------------------------------------------

**Teaser for Next Episode (Release on Friday)**

**----------------------------------**

**Episode 4 – Old Habits… John's POV.**

**----------------------------------------------**

_38 Days in Hoag's Object_

**----------------------------------------------**

**Alicia Vega**_**:**__ "What'd I do to get stuck with this duty?"_

**John Sheppard:** _"I'm still pissed you wasted a drone for a parking spot."_

**Alicia Vega: **_"Least we didn't have to walk sir."_

**Dusty Mehra:** _"3 kilometers in the jungle… in this leather? No thanks."_

**John Sheppard: **_"Chewy… help me out here."_

**Ronon Dex:**_ "The times I wished you'd done the same..."_

**John Sheppard:** "_Judas._"

**-------------------------------------------------**


	4. Old Habits

**Episode 4 – Old Habits… John's POV.**

**----------------------------------------------**

_38 Days in Hoag's Object_

**----------------------------------------------**

**Alicia Vega**_**:**__ "What'd I do to get stuck with this duty?"_

**John Sheppard:** _"I'm still pissed you wasted a drone for a parking spot."_

**Alicia Vega: **_"Least we didn't have to walk sir."_

**Dusty Mehra:** _"3 kilometers in the jungle… in this leather? No thanks."_

**John Sheppard: **_"Chewy… help me out here."_

**Ronon Dex:**_ "The times I wished you'd done the same..."_

**John Sheppard:** "_Judas._"

**-------------------------------------------------**

"Thanks again John… any luck and we'll have the old girl flying in a couple months."

Raising his welding mask, John smirked at Kevin who had been helping him weld this rather large plate onto the wall to seal a hull breach. "Yeah… well you weren't kidding when you said she was beat to hell... but Larrin's people have brought back some ore and pretty soon we'll have some new materials to replace this with."

Marks nodded and watched John put the mask back down. "It's been a lot of work… the Travelers have been a great help but since we've had to basically rewire the whole thing…" Marks sighed as he turned his head to avoid the spray from the arc welder.

John finished his weld and sighed as he leaned back against the wall. The hull still sported scorch marks and with all the exposed wires and patchwork the ship had, it looked more like a Traveler ship than a top of the line Earth Battle Carrier. "Yeah… looks like it."

Before Kevin could reply, footsteps rang from down the hallway. Katana Labrea moved towards them holding a tray in her hands. "Hey guys."

Both men acknowledged her and waited till she approached. "What's up Kat?"

John turned to Kevin and raised his eyebrows. He had no idea the Major had such a friendly relationship with the rather standoffish Traveler Captain. "Katana."

She smirked at them both and opened the tray, inside were a trio of plates with steaming meat and what looked like fresh vegetables. "One of our ships just came back. Found a nice planet not too far that'll serve well as a farming planet. Has lots of edible animals too so we should be good for food in the foreseeable future."

John mentally swore he'd go and give Larrin a big bear hug and squeeze the hell out of her. "Good for them!"

"Actually Sheppard, I know that Colonel Carter and Larrin were looking for you." Speak of the devil herself.

Marks smiled as he took something that looked suspiciously like a carrot and snapped a piece off in his mouth. "Go ahead John…I'll save your steak."

Seeing that the Major was subtly telling him to leave him alone with Katana, John put a snobby face on and picked up his plate. "I'll eat on the run!" he turned to Katana. "Thank you Katana… good to know I'm at least _partially_ appreciated." John knew damn well Marks was being subtle, he did it so infrequently that it was painfully obvious.

Still, he turned his head to look at the two of them eating, John couldn't really blame the man.

---------------------------------------------------

"Some of my people just got back from the village on H4O-2F1… They were supposed to meet up with some representatives from that village to see how they're doing with their crops and whether they needed any heavy equipment."

John paid attention to Larrin as he finished the last of his steak, Sam sat nearby along with Chuck, both torn over whether to laugh or not. "Okay… I'm guessing they never showed."

Larrin gave John a shit-eating grin. "Sharp as always Sheppard… they waited an hour and they just got back. They would have gone on foot but the refugees put the village a few kilometers away and my guys aren't used to walking long distances along rough terrain."

Already knowing what she was going to ask, John took a final chew and looked over at Sam. "I'm guessing the mission is a go?"

Sam nodded and jerked her head back to the Jumper Bay. "Get a team ready, you go as soon as you're ready. The Traveler team will set up a relay post at the gate just in case."

Chuck tapped a few controls and began to speak into his headset, he quickly rounded up the Traveler tech team that would go through first and set up the relay post. John stretched his arms and thought about who he was going to take to see what had happened.

-----------------------------------------------------

"What'd I do to get stuck with this duty?"

John rolled his eyes and motioned with his head. "I'm still pissed you wasted a drone for a _parking spot_."

Captain Vega smiled innocently and tightened the strap on her Traveler leather top to make room for her TacVest. "Least we didn't have to walk, sir."

Beside her, Dusty shrugged as she laced up her boots. "3 kilometers in the jungle… _in this leather?_ No thanks."

Seeing that he was going to have to break out the Colonel's beret to win this argument, John simply turned and faced Ronon. "Chewy… help me out here."

Ronon shrugged, his voice flat. "The times I wished you'd done the same..."

To his side, Teyla smacked his arm and gave John a reassuring smile. John rolled his eyes again and muttered to himself. "_Judas._"

The two earth born women laughed, and John eyed Vega as she zipped up her vest. "You're flying Vega. I want you to get as much practice _flying_ before I take you out for another drive-by."

Vega grinned and nodded, she'd lost much of her attitude since her first mission in this galaxy, but still retained the fun. "Sure thing sir." She quickly took her SCAR-H Sniper Variant and slung it over her shoulder. The particle magnum strapped to her hip her only short range weapon.

Dusty remained relatively quiet, looking over at Ronon for assurance that she was doing the right thing. John found it a little annoying that the Sergeant took Ronon's praise over his own, but he knew it was because they'd been through so much action. Much like himself and Ronon.

Teyla seemed a bit apprehensive though, her infectious smile hid it well, but John knew her well enough to know she was likely worried over her child or the fate of the refugees they were visiting. He quietly pulled her aside before entering the jumper. "You okay coming Teyla? I mean…'tween the rest of us I'm sure we can keep the peace…"

Hiding his concern in a joke was standard operating procedure for John, and Teyla nodded with conviction. "I am fine John. Torren is with Rafaela and Daniel. Rafaela has experience with her niece so I have no worries that Torren is in good hands."

John blinked and grumbled softly. "We are talking Daniel Jackson… I've got this nagging worry that when we get back his hair's gonna have gone white or something."

Teyla smiled and pulled John into the jumper by his shoulder. "I am _sure_ he will survive somehow."

Shrugging and closing the aft hatch, John made one final muse. "Yeah but…_will he enjoy it?"_

--------------------------------------------------

"We're nearing the marked coordinates for the village sir. "

John watched as Vega piloted the craft. She handled it well enough, but he noticed a lack of maneuverability. "Good, do a few circles of the village first to get a look-see, don't worry about inertia, that's what the dampeners are for."

Vega furrowed her brow a bit and followed the advice. "Okay…" She pulled the craft into a high gee drop, and gracefully broke the cloud cover. "Cool."

John had been hoping the Captain would calm down a bit ever since arriving in this galaxy. With over a month now, most if not all of the city's residents had been growing accustomed to the prospect of living in this galaxy, and apart from a few snafus, things were looking up.

Unfortunately, as they entered visual range of the village, one of those Snafu's had been upgraded to a Fubar moment. "_Madre de Dios…"_

John understood enough Spanish to agree with the Captain. "Cloak… bring us in close and scan for lifesigns…."

The village was in ashes, smoke rose in tall columns up to the clouds above streaking them with black splotches. The roads of the village itself were pockmarked with bodies, all dead.

Teyla swallowed her gasp and growled as she looked over John's shoulder. "…How many?"

Tapping the sensor controls, John quickly ran a scan as the craft moved closer. "I'm reading 36 bodies… all dead." Both Ronon and Teyla looked to each other and growled softly. John could tell what the problem was. "That's not everyone…."

Ronon shook his head. "Not even close… I helped the Ahzoti move here…. They were 150 strong."

Pointing out a few places on the map the HUD displayed, Teyla mused. "We should examine these areas as well… the Ahzoti were not a defenseless people. They routinely patrolled their perimeter and would not have been defeated without a fight."

The Jumper finally settled down at the front of the village, John got up, looked to Ronon and nodded. "Split up, building by building search. Stay in the village till we can secure the area."

Ronon nodded back and looked to Teyla. She nodded to his wordless request for help and got out of her seat. She turned to John. "You and Alicia?"

The named Captain turned, she was obviously eager to go as well. John's words dashed her hope though. "We're radioing the Traveler Relay post to get a bigger team out here… then we're gonna check the perimeter. I wanna find out who did this."

Teyla nodded and watched as Ronon and Dusty exited the back of the cloaked jumper and followed. Alicia looked after them longingly. "What now sir?"

John sighed, and he shut the aft hatch with his free hand on the console. "Perimeter search... let's see if we can find anyone else."

The captain relented and John was glad that she'd finally calmed down and sat back down on the passenger seat. It was going to be _really_ crummy to call Atlantis and ask for a forensics team… if the Travelers even _had_ forensics teams.

**--------------Chapter 2--------------**

"They were ambushed... I'll bet if you test their blood you'll find poison." Ronon gave his report to John as yet another body was put into a bag and tallied. "It's brutal, haven't seen something like this in years… whoever killed them took their time…"

John grimaced and noticed Alicia behind him turn her head to the grotesque condition of the latest body. The team of medics and orderlies that had come in the second jumper were all wearing sterilized gear, now coated in blood from their dark work.

Carson stood at the head of the stack of bodies though, examining them quickly with abbreviated autopsies. Reyna meanwhile had gone back with a pair of bodies to do a more thorough job in the meantime. "How'd you know?"

Ronon growled as he looked to the scorched village. "There's blood all over the place… dead people don't bleed."

It was obvious to John what that meant. These people died slowly. "Any idea who did it? Could it be more of those things we found in the outpost last month?"

Teyla arrived, looking a little more pale than normal. In her hands, a homemade stone knife covered in blood. "It was another village… I recognize the design of this knife. It is a common thing among the refugees."

John's jaw dropped a bit as it digested that information. He turned his head and saw Dusty off to the side, her hand on her stomach and head bowed. "… Dusty okay?"

Another growl left Ronon's throat, his body kept leaning towards the sergeant and John could tell he wanted to go make sure she was alright. "...Body fell on her… wasn't expecting it."

Alicia didn't hesitate and moved over to check her friend, Ronon bowed his head away and ground his teeth. John decided to leave it alone for now and moved over to where Carson was.

His time in Afghanistan had exposed John to some very bad scenes. He recalled once seeing firsthand his own handiwork in an Apache… the 30mm cannon having torn apart the Taliban squad that was suppressing a supply convoy… He'd been called a guardian angel that day… John had simply wondered if Death had a sidejob to pay the bills.

Carson sighed dejectedly, John could tell this was affecting him just as bad as it was him. "Carson."

The Scottish man turned and nodded. "Aye Colonel…"

John groaned and shook his head looking down at the disemboweled man. "How bad?"

"Bad Colonel… there're defensive wounds… but not nearly as many as I would expect. Reyna should be doing the bloodwork soon, but from pupil dilation and blood vessel constriction… I'd say he was sedated first and then killed."

It was as Ronon suspected, and given Teyla's determination of a potential murder weapon, there was only one possible suspect. "So someone poisoned them... probably in their food or water…then moved in and took em out?"

"Aye lad… they took their time killing these men too…" Carson whispered something under his breath as he zipped up the body bag. "No women or children… looks like they've been taken."

John nodded, and he tapped his headset. "This is Sheppard to Carter… you there?"

A few moments passed, and across the galaxy Sam's voice came in from Atlantis via the Traveler Relay post. "_Colonel Sheppard… report."_

"The village is destroyed, about seventy percent of the population is missing… some of the men, and all of the women and children, over." John winced as he said it, nothing made it realer than reporting it.

Sam's voice was still strong, but the tone of sorrow was unmistakable. "…_Copy… any idea who did it?"_

Carson turned to John and whispered below the level of the microphone. "_Colonel… whoever did this was cruel and inhuman… god knows what they're doing to the women and children."_

John considered it; he looked over at where Dusty had recovered from her house of the dead encounter and checked his whole team out. "We're suspecting another Refugee village… we have evidence that Teyla says proves it. We're gonna need someone to come here and check the DHD to see the last planets dialed, over."

"_Copy that, Larrin's diverted one of her ships nearby just in case you're wrong… better safe than sorry."_

John resisted scoffing.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"You sure you okay Sarge?"

Dusty nodded and gave John a dejected smirk. "I'm fine… just… wasn't expecting to open a door and have a guy's guts land on me."

She'd had to change her clothes, and now dressed in the Atlantis Jumpsuits the Jumpers carried, she stood out from the rest of them in their less professional Traveler clothing. "Yeah well… don't worry if you need a few minutes. That'd fuck anybody up,"

Dusty scoffed softly and took a calming breath. "Even you?"

John nodded and pretended to be insulted. "Damn right, I'm a flyboy. I do the running and gunning thing cuz I have to. Totally prefer staying in the ship."

The sergeant laughed at the odd humor. "Thanks… that actually _does_ make me feel a little better."

John smiled and patted her on the shoulder. The others were outside the Jumper awaiting orders. He'd taken the moment to have a private check up with the Sergeant, and hearing her get up to follow him out was reasonably sure she' was okay.

The same Traveler Tech team that had set up the relay post now worked on the DhD, it looked somewhat similar to the ones in the Milky Way and Pegasus, except instead of narrow lower design with a sort of mushroom head, this one almost looked like a Jumper standing on its aft. The control panel was ensconced within a metal outline and instead of the circular layout, each of the 39 symbols was arranged in quarter sections.

They'd pulled out the last 20 addresses dialed, everything before that was from before the refugees arrived. It was a little sobering to think that someone else knew how to use the gate system and that they could potentially meet unexpectedly. John looked over the list of addresses the techs printed out and with one of them being Atlantis, that left only a narrow search parameter of seven worlds, 4 of them refugee planets.

He moved back towards Ronon and Teyla, both ready to listen to his orders.

It was so strange, for a moment John seemed to forget that he was in Hoag's Object, six hundred million light-years from Pegasus… this all felt so familiar. "Alright, I've got 7 addresses and one of them's lucky. The Travelers are gonna send a small probe in first to make sure the ones we don't know are habitable before sending a team. We're gonna split up and cover the four refugee planets, two each."

Ronon nodded and looked to his team. "Teams?"

John looked to them all and nodded. "I'm heading back to Atlantis first to pick up Daniel and try and get a report on whatever poisoned them…" John handed a copy of the paper to Alicia. "Vega'll fly you two…" he pointed to Ronon and Teyla. "…to those planets. If you don't find anything try the next. No risks, no chances…." He looked to Vega and stared. "…_and no Drones."_

Alicia got a slightly irritated face and resisted rolling her eyes. "_Yes_ sir."

**-------------------Chapter 3-------------------**

"So uhh… not to sound pessimistic or anything… but what am I doing here?"

For a moment, John was about to say _'Rodney...'_ but quickly realized his error. "…Daniel… you're the closest thing to a cultural expert on these refugees other than Teyla. I know all the gadgets in Atlantis are tempting but we need to find out what happened."

Daniel sat in the passenger side seat with Dusty behind him. The Sergeant put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on… I've heard so many stories about you kicking butt… this is a cakewalk for someone like you."

Shrugging, Daniel tried to look innocent. "Well… kicking butt is different each time. Remind me to tell you what it feels like to get shot, stabbed, crushed, and any other form of pain that winds me up in the infirmary."

John snorted. "It's a miracle you're still in one piece."

Looking down at his pants, Daniel got a curious look on his face. "Sometimes I wonder…"

Turning at such an odd comment, John saw Dusty blush and giggle with girlish glee at Daniel's shameless behavior. He'd heard from Sam that Daniel had been trying to get the Earth born members to settle into the new form of living they had, and was actively trying to get them all to laugh.

It looked like he was succeeding.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"I am sorry Daniel… Our village prefers not to associate with the Ahzoti when possible."

John furrowed his brow as he stood watch over the discussion. "Then why'd your address show up on their DHD?"

The thin looking elder of the Village they were in furrowed his brow back in confusion. "Pardon?"

Daniel shook his head and held up a hand diplomatically. "We came here because the control panel for the rings of the ancestors displayed the address to this world having been dialed recently. Have you had _any_ contact with the Ahzoti?"

The elder now nodded in understanding. "Ah yes… and yes, we have had contact with them. We recently traded a supply of the fruit we gathered on this planet for meat their hunters have caught."

Daniel seemed appeased, and John noticed Dusty enter the room and shake her head. "Alright… it's good to see you guys doing so well in any case."

The Elder nodded and smiled to John. "Yes Colonel. We are forever grateful to you and Atlantis. I have personally named my new son John in honor of your…"

John tuned out at that point. So far that made 6 sons, 3 daughters, and a male stud cow thing that had been named after him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"What'd you find Dusty?"

The Sergeant shrugged and blew a bubble with her gum. "Lots of crops, a couplea cute kids, and ton of fruit…. It wasn't them."

Daniel rolled his eyes as they walked back to the Jumper. "I could have told you that."

John hit the remote for the jumper and walked into the aft section. "What told you?"

"Notice how they had guards around their camp?" John shrugged at Daniel's words. "They're hunters and think themselves warriors. They wouldn't poison their enemies."

Dusty nodded and took the first step onto the Jumper. "I agree… one of their guards tried to follow me when I was walking around… they wouldn't stoop to an ambush like what we saw."

John hung his P90 from the equipment netting above the benches in the jumper and moved forward to sit down. "Yeah…so 1 down… 1 to go… Wonder how Ronon and Teyla are doing…"

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ronon… you work fast."

The Satedan nodded and motioned behind him as John's team exited the Jumper right outside of the village. "They're here."

Both Dusty and Daniel instantly tensed. "What?"

Ronon looked at them strongly and repeated himself. "They're here."

John fingered the particle magnum on his hip and felt his pulse increase. "Are they okay?"

Ronon nodded, and motioned to Daniel. "They want to talk to _you_."

Both Dusty and John looked to Daniel who shrugged his shoulders in surprise. "O-Kay… are they friendly?"

Again, Ronon nodded. "Teyla's waiting. Vega's in the Jumper."

Unwilling to see Daniel go unarmed, John handed him the same particle magnum he fingered on his hip. "Here… keep your radio on and anything…"

:Yeah yeah… I know the drill… Jack ran me through it millions of times."

John furrowed his brow. "Jack?"

"Jack O'Neill? Former leader of SG1 the team I was on for 10 years? _The crotchety old general who recruited you?"_

Recovering from his brain fart, John nodded. "Oh… yeah….yeah him… Succinct guy." He hadn't thought of the general in a few weeks, not like he'd thought of him much before then anyway. "Alright... go on… we'll cover you from out here."

As if summoned, Teyla approached a few moments later and nodded to the group. Vega had heard them and joined as well. "Daniel… I believe you will want to come with me…" she turned to John. "This is a diplomatic situation that will require time… we are in no danger."

John wasn't too happy with that answer. "Wait! What the hell's going on?"

Teyla gave John a rueful smile, and then broke her gaze. "It's…complicated… we will return shortly. Do not enter the village..." She looked back to John and gave him a pleading look. "_…please John."_

Seeing that Teyla was being the negotiator and this was part of keeping the peace, John relented and nodded. "Alright… _but…!"_ he turned to Vega. "…I want you to cover them with that scope of yours from that treeline." He pointed to a small clutch of trees about a hundred feet downrange.

Alicia smirked. "Mean and unseen, got it."

John held her back by her shoulder and growled. "I said_ cover _Vega… don't start a war…" He smirked seeing her turn to him. "….but I sure as hell want you to finish it should one start."

The Captain smiled and moved out from under his grip. John couldn't help but wonder just how much the woman needed to unwind. Maybe he'd have to see if she wanted to go hunting with Ronon or the Travelers…

------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you think's taking them so long?"

Ronon growled and elbowed Dusty sitting beside him. "Don't rush it… Teyla and Daniel talk a lot on their own… imagine them _together._"

John had the image in his head, and for a second he wondered exactly why Teyla's foot was behind her head. Suddenly disturbed by the mental image, he shuddered and tried to replace it with something less disconcerting.

Ronon apparently noticed and smirked softly to John. "Something wrong?"

John shook his head vehemently, and tried to replace the image in his head with something more pleasant. "Uhhh no… just tired. It's been a few hours now."

Dusty shrugged and pulled something out of her vest. "Gum?"

Smiling at the odd offering, John accepted a strip of the chewy snack. "Where'dya keep getting this stuff? We ran out of M&Ms last week…"

With tongue in cheek expression, Dusty blew a bubble and continued chewing. "You know how we were allowed a Crate each a month?" John nodded. "I've got 2 Crates left." She gave her commanding officer a shit-eating grin.

Ronon gave a throaty chuckle and accepted piece of his own. "Don't see why you love this stuff so much… it's not food."

"Not my idea originally." Dusty kept chewing and chuckled. "Back during the war with the Ori, Colonel Reynolds kept saying I talked too much. So he got me a few packs of gum and ever since…" She blew a bubble to punctuate the joke.

John chuckled and looked back towards the village, night was quickly approaching and he wondered what was taking so long. "Reynolds? Hmm…. We ever get back to Earth I'll have to thank him."

Rolling her eyes, Dusty accepted the teasing and rubbed her eyes. "Right… well if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna catch some zees."

Typically, they'd be sleeping in shifts and using honorifics in such a situation, but John had slowly been letting the more pomp and circumstance aspects of command go in favor of leadership by example and respect. This was one of those moments. "Use the Jumper… We'll wake you if anything happens."

The Sarge nodded and stretched her neck as she headed to the jumper. Ronon seemed to admire the view as she moved off and John chuckled. "Ronon…?"

The Satedan turned and gave an innocent smile. "Sheppard…"

"Is there something going on I should know about?"

Ronon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "No… just thinking."

Leaning back, John pulled out his canteen and took a swig. "About the Sarge?"

"Maybe." Ronon said it matter of factly, it was no secret to John that something had come up over the past few months.

John shook his head and sighed. _'Dude' _talk with Ronon was always fun and easy. "Well I'm not saying marry her or start thinking what your kids are gonna look like… but why don't you just ask her out? See what happens."

"I dunno… it's complicated…."

Rolling his eyes, John leaned forward. "No-no-no… _me and_ _Carter_ is complicated…. You and Dusty just need to make it official." John had taken a calculated risk, he knew that many among the renegade expedition knew of his _'relationship' _with Sam, but he trusted Ronon like no other and knew the Satedan could guess.

Unsurprised, Ronon grumbled and scratched his chin. "I guess… Hmmm…"

At that moment, Alicia's voice cut their 'dude' moment short through the radio. "_Sheppard's right, just ask her out Ronon."_

John had known Ronon for _quite_ a few years now, and this was the _first_ time he'd ever seen the Satedan blush. Ronon kept his posture though and called into his radio. "Aren't you _supposed_ to be covering Daniel and Teyla?"

John chuckled and looked into the village, if anything, there seemed to be celebration. Before he could speak though, Dusty's teasing voice took over the radio. "_And you were supposed to tuck me in Ronon."_

Taking a look around him, Ronon realized that he'd trained Vega and Dusty too well and the dark skinned woman had left a radio next to them to listen to their conversation. "_Sneaky…_" he tossed the radio to John and smirked deviously. "Least you got caught too."

Realizing that he'd just announced to both Vega and Dusty that he and Sam were in a '_complicated' _relationship, John winced and spoke into his radio. "Uhhh… any chance of me joining this conspiracy and keeping everything… _quiet?_"

Vega's voice came back teasing. "_No problem Colonel."_

Dusty piped in immediately after. _"Just order Ronon to tuck me in."_

Feeling just a _little _better, John sighed and waved Ronon off. "Go… and shut yer damn radio off."

The two muted snickers coming through the radio outlined Ronon's half walk of shame, and half of triumph to the Jumper. John looked at his watch and sighed. "I think you can come back Vega…. If nothing's happened yet I think they're in the clear."

"_Actually sir…. I'm pretty comfy up in this tree. You can join __me__ if you'd like."_

Unsure of what to do, John decided to give Ronon and Dusty some… _privacy. _"Ya know what? I think I will."

**----------------Chapter 4----------------**

"Took you guys long enough." Ronon muttered as he sat with an arm around Dusty ostensibly keeping her warm in the night air.

John stretched his arms and neck; climbing the tree Vega was in had been a chore and he realized he'd have to step up his training again despite the lack of any real combat foreseeable. "Yeah well tree climbing isn't exactly on the USAF training program."

Alicia chuckled and remained quiet.

John on the other hand looked to Daniel and nodded keeping things professional. "In any case… I'm guessing things have been upgraded from Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition to Situation Normal: All Fucked Up?"

Daniel blinked a few times at the heavy swearing, then shook his head as he recalled. "Oh right… Fubar… Snafu… Yeah it's uhh… it's nowhere near what we thought it was."

Teyla seemed almost in shock as she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I believe we should discuss this with Colonel Carter and Larrin… it is a… _complicated _matter."

Seeing both Alicia and Dusty bothered by the reply, John figured that since they were about half of what was left of Earth's Atlantis Expedition _still in_ Atlantis… "It's okay Teyla… I'd rather we all know than keep secrets anymore."

John could see that Teyla saw his logic, and the gears in her head came to the same conclusion. "Very well… at the heart of the matter, the Ahzoti are no more."

Dusty gave her a shit-eating grin and deadpanned. "I gathered that when a dead one landed on me."

Daniel, while admiring the Sergeant's sense of humor, was a little disturbed by the nonchalance she used. "Right well it's not the way you think. As it turns out, it wasn't _exactly_ another tribe that killed those people back there."

Ronon growled. "Then who?"

The gears in John's head spun as he came to the realization, he remained quiet however and let Daniel and Teyla explain. "The Ahzoti are a warrior culture… and as such, they are a very patriarchal society."

Daniel translated to layman. "Basically the men were in charge. The women didn't have as many rights or choice."

Both Earth Born women in the group became quiet, and it all became clear as Alicia summed it up. "They killed each other."

-----------------------------------------------------

"They killed _each other?"_

Larrin's voice was incredulous, Sam off to the side now remaining quiet.

Daniel nodded as he continued his report. "The Village elder of the tribe where we found them told us the whole story. Up until they reached Atlantis, the Ahzoti were a peaceful if warrior people. The women were okay with it because the men were able to defend against wildlife and the Wraith to a degree and kept the village strong with all the food they'd bring back."

Teyla continued seamlessly. "That is until they were driven from their homes by the Asurans, The 6 months they spent in Atlantis created a schism within their people as they began to realize that they would likely end up somewhere that hunting and fighting would not be a primary part of their lives."

Larrin sighed and rubbed her face. "So you're telling me that woman and children did that to those men? They were ripped apart."

Daniel shook his head. "No… it's even more complicated than that. The tribe where the Ahzoti survivors are living now were at odds with the Ahzoti during those last 6 months. In fact, me and Teyla mediated with them often, that's why they only wanted to talk to us."

John watched it all silently, one foot on the wall behind him, the other on the floor supporting him. He'd seen this before… in Afghanistan… he never thought this sort of thing could _ever _happen out here.

Sam seemed distraught as well. "So how did this other tribe get involved?"

Taking a deep breath, Daniel recounted what he'd been told. "It seems that during their stay on Atlantis, the Ahzoti women were treated better by the men of _this_ tribe. They were unaccustomed to both their and our treatment, so when they settled that planet, they were unwilling to go back to the _old ways._"

"Why'd they burn the village?" John had been silent up until now, but he had to know the full story.

Teyla turned her head and nodded to John's surprise question. "It is a purifying ritual. They believe that by burning their former homes, the new ones will mean all that much more to them."

"That still doesn't explain why they tormented them."

Daniel took the question this time. "Yes as it turns out actually… the sedative they were given was laced in their water… The tribe where the survivors are now believe that our…_souls_… are trapped in our torsos and need to be released. They believed that the Wraith 'stole their souls' and whenever someone died from any other way, they'd 'release' their soul as a final rite. Those men were sedated and numb when it happened."

Almost everyone in the room suppressed their gags. It was grotesque to think about, and John fought his revulsion. "You're telling me that those men were ripped apart as an act of _mercy!?"_

Nodding his head, Daniel sighed. "Unfortunately yes. Reyna just confirmed it with the toxicology reports and the levels that were present in those men were so high that they probably didn't feel a thing. The defensive wounds they found are…" Daniel winced and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "…that same sedative has hallucinogenic effects at those levels. Those defensive wounds Carson found are most likely accidental."

John tuned it out after that, Accidental defensive wounds… ritual death… women's rights… god he thought he left all this _shit_ back in the Milky Way and Pegasus…

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Colonel… uhh… Would you like to sit?"

John rolled his eyes at the honorific. The two Marines and one Air Force Captain sitting at the table playing cards all straightened, their training kicking in. "Sure… long as you deal me in."

Holding the cards in her hand, Dusty smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, sir. Texas Hold'em, no wilds, 20 buck limit?"

Alicia nodded as she scootched her seat over and offered the chair next to John. Drake sat opposite him with Dusty in the far corner. "You play before Colonel?"

John nodded and accepted his two cards from Dusty. "Yeah… and please, guys…. No sirs or Colonel when it's not crunch time. Making me feel old."

The group chuckled, and Alicia asked. "How old _are _you Co… uhh I mean… Sheppard?" Dusty handed John a stack of chips with 1, 2, 5, and 10 marks on them respectively. In total, he had a hundred points worth.

John wasn't too surprised that it was Alicia who asked him. He'd spent more time with the higher ranked soldier than the other two and felt a little more comfortable talking despite rank. "Older than you, not middle aged."

The group chuckled at the vague answer, slowly becoming more comfortable. John could see that despite the camaraderie, they each had a sense of sadness about them. The name Esposito had given this moon fit well… he certainly felt _Saudade_ from each of those at the table. "Alright…" Dusty stacked the cards down and looked at hers. "Small blinds are a buck, big blinds 2." She tossed the chips in and smiled deviously, obviously her poker face. "I…. raise 4"

Drake sitting beside her looked at his cards after tossing his blinds in and groaned. "Ugh, fold."

John was next, and he flipped his two cards after tossing some chips in. An ace and a jack of hearts. "I call." John tossed the required coinage in and looked to Drake. "Not a risk taker?"

The Lieutenant rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Risks are one thing, a death wish is something else."

Alicia gave him a seductive smile and tossed her chips in without even looking at her cards. "Life without risk is boring… why else would we be here?"

The group remained quiet after that, each silently contemplating their furthered existence. John looked at each and tried to gauge more than just their cards.

Dusty was chipper, but perhaps that was just her way of coping. He knew that for some people, pushing ahead was the only way to survive. John wondered what she'd left behind.

He didn't wonder about Drake though… When Elizabeth originally accepted his request to transfer to Atlantis after the siege, John didn't know what to think. The man was older than most lieutenants and had the experience of a Captain… It had taken a few shady contacts to apprise him fully of why the man seemed so… _different,_ In any case, John had come to understand that this was the man's home… much like it was for him. He seemed on edge though and jittery

Alicia was the worst off though, and that's why John was gave her so much attention. He knew the woman had family back on Earth, and it was loyalty to Ronon and Atlantis that had swayed her to stay. The attitude, the bitchiness… all signs that she was having a rough time. Her demeanor was a cover and John could tell… probably because he was doing the same.

John hardly paid notice to the game as he looked around the mess hall. Travelers all around… families… people who didn't leave anything but familiarity behind.

He noted with a smile the way Radek and Mila were seated by themselves, both tired looking, but bantering back and forth while tapping on a tablet next to their plates. The Czech scientist had been frazzled after Asuras… but now he seemed almost excited.

The other expedition members were similar stories… each leaving something behind… each making the choice to come here…

Except Sam… and Carson…

**--------------- Chapter 5 ---------------**

John put the arc welder back in place and wondered how much longer it would be for this ship to take off. He typically only helped Marks with the repairs when he wasn't training with Ronon or teaching the Travelers basic USAF protocols.

Only about 200 of the Travelers wanted to take the training though, so it was almost like having Atlantis back the way it was. Ronon was even helping out and teaching them tracking and sparring.

The Travelers felt so strange, almost like family but at the same time… _different._

Several had joined Marks in wanting to repair and learn about the Daedalus. John had helped the Major out with some basic control interface training and was beat now.

He contemplated going back to his quarters, it would be a 10 or 15-minute walk. Sighing in dejection as he tossed the welder's mask back into the equipment locker, he figured the bunks on the Daedalus might be a little closer to how he felt right now.

"_John."_

John turned, and he couldn't help but feel a little better that he'd been tracked down. "Teyla."

The Athosian woman walked into the room and looked around. "The ship looks much more…."

John snorted, without proper materials or tools, they'd had to do a haphazard job piecing the hull back together. It looked more like a shinier Traveler ship than Earth's first Deep Space Carrier. "It's crap, I know… but it's air tight and that's what matters." He turned to Teyla and sighed. "Torren?"

"Sleeping… Rafaela said it was much easier without Daniel's… _assistance." _She smiled and thought about what that could mean. "She misses her family on Earth." Teyla said it matter of factly, but the intention of starting that conversation was there.

John for that matter felt he _needed_ to talk about it. "Yeah… guess we all miss the old blue marble."

Furrowing her brow, Teyla motioned with her head to follow her. "Blue Marble?"

Deciding to play the pedant, John continued. "Yeah you know? The shiny marble in the sky… can only see it from the moon…."

Still confused, Teyla could see that John was playing her. "I assume you are not speaking of the planet in orbit of _this _moon. Rather your own planet from _its_ moon."

John chuckled, Teyla had gotten better and better at deciphering Earth Vernacular. "Sharp as always…"

"Sharp enough to know it is not the… _blue marble_… you miss."

Maybe a little _too_ sharp. "Yeah… yeah… I uhh… I don't miss the old rock too much…" John refused to meet Teyla's eyes, moving through the recently cleared corridors of the Daedalus. "…Teyla… I think it's time you knew…"

The confines of the Daedalus was a good place to tell her this. "Tell me what John?"

John stopped in the middle of the hallway, feeling the desire… the _need_ to tell her. So he did. "Rodney didn't die on Asuras."

If Teyla were not the composed woman John had known for the past 4 years, he could have sworn she'd hardly reacted.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sleep was impossible, and so was staying awake, John had relived the whole ordeal telling Teyla what had happened on Proculus… _everything_. From Rodney's shocking return, to swearing Sam to secrecy about the ordeal he'd been through.

At first Teyla had been offended that he had waited so long to tell her. But as she thought about it and heard his reasoning's, she knew that it was the best way to go about it.

Work seemed to be the best way to ignore the stress, so John did work.

_Eighteen FN SCAR-Hs with full SOPMOD kits… Approximately 8000 rounds…. Fifty-two FN-P90s with standard issue rail kits… approximately 20000 rounds remaining… Seventy-Four Sig Sauer P229s chambered for .357 SIG... approximately 2500 rounds remaining…_

"John."

_Fourty Eight AT4-CS Soft Launch rocket systems… Forty Eight FIM-92b Stinger Systems… Four FGM-148 Javelin Anti-Tank launchers… 24 rounds…_

"John."

_200 blocks of C4… 100 claymore mines… 60 Tac-vests worth of equipment…_

"_John!"_

John finally snapped out of his inventory logging, the computer screen showing the reflection of the person behind him. "Oh… uhhh Hey…" He turned and faced her. "Whachu doing here Sam?"

The blonde Colonel moved around and looked at the display. "Didn't you do this a few weeks ago?"

John shrugged, how Sam had found him was a mystery. "Just wanted to double check… just cuz the IOA won't know doesn't mean _we_ shouldn't."

Sam nodded softly, and then turned her head to look at him. "You uhh… you okay John?"

So that's what it was…. _That._ "… Would you be surprised if I said no?"

She shook her head, and with a sigh she lowered her voice. "…No…I uhh… I figured you might wanna… _well…_ we're only a few episodes into the first season."

John furrowed his brow for a moment, but then realized she was talking about Futurama… among other things. "Oh… uhh… well…" The Armory was not the kind of place this discussion was typically had. "...I thought we agreed… Fridays and…"

Interrupting him, Sam continued speaking softly. "I know…" She tensed her face somewhat. "…You're not the only one who can't sleep."

Now it made sense. The futility of the day had gotten to her too… that's how she found him. "…Oh." He looked down to meet Sam's eyes just an inch or two below his own eye level. He could see she wanted company just as badly as he did. "Sam… I uhh… before…" He took a deep breath, and looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. _"…I know you said not to kiss you… but I'm telling you right now… after today…. I think I might just have to."_ It wasn't a romantic admission, John struggled to get the words out and prayed that she understood.

John could see the lump in Sam's throat as she gulped. Her voice came out barely above a whisper as she looked at the Lt Colonel Pin on his collar. "Well… when I said… _not to kiss me…_ I kinda meant the stuff that comes _after _kissing…" She smiled softly, and John knew she'd understood as she meekly looked up at his face. "…but… as far as kissing _itself…_ I…I think I'm okay with that."

John's hand came up to take Sam's face in it, but he drew back instinctively when she seemed to recede. They still had a lot of issues, but at least he had someone to watch Futurama with.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Whatchu doin'?"

Larrin rolled her eyes and waved Chuck's comment off. "I'm 'doin'' work. I've got 4 ships exploring the inner edge of the ring for this galaxy trying to figure out why it's like that."

"Cool. What've they found?"

Larrin turned to Chuck and smiled sarcastically. "If you're looking for company tonight, just say it."

Chuck chuckled and shook his head. "Nah… I'm meeting up with Reyna to teach her poker. She saw the marines playing and she wants to learn."

Her eyebrows up suggestively, Larrin smirked. "Poke-_her?_ Sounds sexy."

They both chuckled at the odd conversation in the control room, and Chuck looked down at the screen. "What about that one…? looks kinda on its own."

He pointed out the signal from a Traveler craft heading towards a singular star right on the cusp of the dark inner ring of the galaxy. "That's the Hylea, they're exploring the very edge and leaving probes. Might figure out why this galaxy is so weird."

Chuck shrugged and receded. "Alright… well I'm gonna go find Rey, have a good night babe." Taking the upper hand, Chuck smacked Larrin's bottom playfully as she sat sideways on the chair. A few Travelers working nearby chuckled as they watched.

Larrin blushed slightly, looked back to Chuck, and scrunching up a paper ball from the pad she carried, nailed him in the back of the head with it in an impressive throw from almost 10 feet away.

Now the crowd in the control room laughed openly, and Chuck gave Larrin a bewildered look as he shook off the strange attack and walked away.

Larrin, proud of herself, got back to coordinating the next movements for her ships. With any luck, they'd come across something interesting and useful to the expedition.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Teaser for Next Episode (Release on Either Mondary or Tuesday)

**Episode 5 - …Die Hard. **

------------------------------

_52 Days in Hoag's Object_

--------------------------------

**Dan Drake:** _"Great… here comes Captain Boom Boom."_

**Laura Cadman:** _"Oh please, you wish you could 'Boom Boom' like me."_

**Dan Drake:** _"So many things I could say… so many I don't have to."_

**Laura Cadman:** _"Ooohhh you just bought yourself a C4 Voodoo Doll."_

**John Sheppard:** _"I knew this was a bad idea."_

----------------------------------


	5. Die Hard

-------------------------------

**Episode 5 - …Die Hard. **

_52 Days in Hoag's Object_

--------------------------------

**A/N:** _For those wondering, Episodes 1-8 are buildup episodes (With 5,7,8 being actiony/adventure). Episodes 9-11 are a 3 part mid-season arc, and Episodes 12-18 are mostly adventure style episodes with Episode 19-20 the first two of a season finale 3 part cliffhanger._

_Props go out to __**TheIceMenace **__for some brainstorming on future events. MAJOR props out to Rudy Pena for technical details which have been fixed in the previous chapters (Apparently, Stingers and AT4s are non-reloadable… go figure.)_

_As always, Reviews are HIGHLY appreciated :D I love to hear what you're thinking and your opinions/suggestions!_

----------------------------

**Dan Drake:** _"Great… here comes Captain Boom Boom."_

**Laura Cadman:** _"Oh please, you wish you could 'Boom Boom' like me."_

**Dan Drake:** _"So many things I could say… so many I don't have to."_

**Laura Cadman:** _"Ooohhh…. you just bought yourself a C4 Voodoo Doll."_

**John Sheppard:** _"I knew this was a bad idea."_

----------------------------------

John blinked a few times just to make sure he was seeing straight. "Larrin?"

Larrin stood above him, Ronon to the side holding a Banto rod and wiping himself down with a towel. "He's all yours."

Apparently, Ronon hit a lot harder than he looked, which was already a scary thought. John simply smiled stunnedely as he looked up from his position on the ground sprawled out on his ass. It was obvious he was admiring Larrin's well-shaped body.

The only problem was that Larrin didn't have time to look amused. "_Get up_ Sheppard. I need you _right now._"

A few snickers from around the room, the Travelers and other marines laughing at John's current position. Larrin knew a few probably thought they were doing it but no matter. "Can it wait a minute? I kinda feel like passing out."

"_Sheppard!" _The urgency in her voice made it clear to all those around that this wasn't a joking suggestion for some horizontal jogging. Ronon backed away and signaled the others to move along with him.

John groaned and dabbed at the bruise forming on his forehead. "Alright alright…" He accepted her hand up and shook off the shock. "Can we swing by the infirmary first?"

"No time. I need you _now!" _Larrin was furious, the situation was _bad_ and she needed him to be alert.

Unfortunately, full consciousness hadn't come back to John yet, and before he knew it, there was a towel on his head and his hand was being dragged through the corridors of Atlantis. It took a second for him to realize it wasn't just his hand and what was actually happening "Larrin?"

The Traveler woman dragged him forward like a disinterested mule and spat the explanation at him at light speed. "I lost contact with one of my ships an hour ago. I was hoping it was a communications malfunction but I dialed the planet they were on and _nothing._"

The Lieutenant Colonel still seemed a bit confused, exacerbated by Larrin throwing him into the transporter then joining him. "What?"

Now more than simply frustrated, Larrin waited for the flash to abate and then grabbed John's left ear throwing the towel to the side. "_Paying attention now?!"_

The normally imposing man was reduced to child like motions as he was dragged by his ear into the hallway. "_Ow-ow-ow! Yes ye yes! Let go!"_

Larrin held on for a few more steps, then let go and pinned him to the wall with her right hand. "Do I have to repeat myself or are you going to listen?"

The dark haired Lt. Colonel rubbed the side of his head, then pushed Larrin's hand off him. His consciousness had fully returned and he was near panting from the sudden adrenaline rush. "Lost contact… with ship… got it…"

Feeling a _little_ better, Larrin motioned him to follow. "Come on… I asked Sam and Marks to join us in the control room."

She was hoping that this would lead into a simple check-up mission, but deep in her gut Larrin had learned to trust that instinct that told her things were about to… as the Marines put it, become FUBAR.

----------------------------------------------------

"One of my ships, the Hylea, was on a recon mission on the inner edge of this galaxy's ring of stars." Larrin quickly briefed the three Lanteans, it was a simple enough request. "We lost contact with it about an hour and a half ago. Normally this wouldn't be too surprising, communications have always been sketchy on our ships since we've had to patch them together so many times."

Sam sat in the center of the control room on a console. "What makes you think this is any different if it's a normal occurrence?"

Cocking her head to the side, Larrin resisted insulting the blonde Colonel. "Because our last transmission from them puts them over this planet." Larrin tapped it on the giant screen to the side of the control room. "I sent a communication relay drone there and nothing. It's like the ship just vanished."

Major Marks yawned softly and stretched his shoulders as he leaned forward to ask a question. Larrin saw it and immediately took offense. "Oh am I boring you Major Marky?"

The Major did a slight double take, then furrowed his brow angrily. "No but you're pissing me off now. I was _going _to ask why you don't just send one of your probes to relay imagery back."

Unwavering, Larrin brought up the information on the planet. "Unfortunately, this planet is basically a giant hunk of Naquadah. _That's_ why my ship was going there in the first place. It scrambles any scans our probes use, _hence why I sent a ship there!_"

Larrin saw Sam almost recede into herself and John scoff. "Naquadah? You saying it's a giant bomb?"

Strangely, Sam was the one to reply. "Actually… it's not the first time I've seen it. The Icarus Base they were building back in the Milky Way had a core made of molten Naquadah just a few hundred degrees Kelvin below it's detonation point… they were going to use it to power the gate in some experiment last I heard…" Sam sighed and bowed her head slightly. "At least that's what they told me."

Larrin didn't have time for these Lanteans to reminisce about their home galaxy. "Sorry to break your lovely train of thought, but I've got 83 people on that ship. If they've taken damage somehow it's unlikely they'd be able to stay in orbit, if they've crashed, it's likely the reactors are leaking radiation and they'll need evac."

Major Marks grunted and said. "Daedalus has a supply of Prussian Blue and Potassium Iodide. I'm sure Atlantis must have some too."

Sam nodded. "A small amount, but we'd likely use it all if…"

Larrin didn't have time for this, every second counted at this point. "I don't _care_ what Russians or Potassiums you've got, What I want to know is how many pilots can you let me borrow for my recovery teams. We'll deal with it _our _way."

The three Lanteans in the room were silent a moment, Each exchanging looks to each other, communicating non-verbally. A nod here, a shrug there, and finally Sam nodded to Larrin strongly. "Just let us round up the troops."

She'd never show it, but a wave of relief came over Larrin, She'd have sent people already, but the Lantean pilots could fly jumpers much better than any of her people could and would expedite the effort. Now the hard part began.

**-------------------Chapter 2----------------------**

"Great… here comes Captain Boom Boom."

Laura rolled her eyes and flipped off the Lieutenant. "Oh please, you wish you could _'Boom Boom'_ like me."

John could have thought of a few things to say, and apparently so could Drake. "So many things I could say… so many I don't have to."

The group of marines, as well as Chuck started snickering. Laura opened her jaw slightly at the Lieutenant and narrowed her eyes. "_Ooohhh, you just bought yourself a C4 Voodoo doll."_

John winced and rubbed his forehead. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Larrin stood off to the side watching it all and wanting to bitch at them hardcore. How could they be so relaxed in the face of potential danger? Then again, these weren't their people… these weren't _their_ family. "Alright come on… we need to get moving."

John turned and nodded, his face growing serious. "Alright! 3 jumpers! Vega you take Jumper 2, Cadman take Jumper 3 and for gods sakes don't think explosions." He looked at both pilots and used his finger to highlight it. "I'm serious. We've only got so many drones and we're _not_ going to waste them unless we have to."

Both Captains nodded, and looked around to the crews they'd be ferrying. "Teams?" Cadman questioned.

John replied as he turned to Larrin. "Drake you're with me, Chuck go with Cadman, Dusty's going with you Vega." He looked to Larrin and nodded, handing the podium to her per say.

Larrin stepped forward and barked at the technical team standing behind the marines. "Split up! 3 teams! Don't care who goes where, just do it!"

The team looked at each other, and quickly divided up into three 3 man groups. John shrugged at the odd way of commanding, and motioned to the Jumper. "After you?"

Grunting, Larrin shoved John out of the way and took her seat in the passenger side. "Just get us going."

While for the most part Larrin tried to keep things relatively social and calm, when her people were threatened she was worse than a banshee.

--------------------------------------------------------

"I'm not picking up any transmissions… Nothing in orbit either."

Larrin felt like smacking John _yet again_. "No _really?_ Is that what this shiny screen is telling me?" She tapped a few buttons on the jumper and began a scan of the ground.

"What are you…?"

Tersely, Larrin spat back. "Scanning, what does it look like I'm doing?"

It was unfair, the Lanteans _were_ helping. But Larrin still felt that despite all the relations that had been fostered between them, they'd never be what the Travelers were to her.

"Alright that's enough. the hell crawled up your ass?"

Larrin remained calm, punching Sheppard while he was flying was likely not the best thing to do. "Nothing, now quit it and help me find this ship."

"Alright, but you've got to calm down. We'll find them… don't worry."

So easy going… so unused to how life really is. Larrin nearly scoffed in his face. The Lanteans didn't know what it was like to lose people when all you have left is 6000 people. She'd been doing a tremendously good job hiding it, but she resented the easy manner of the Marines… the nonchalance at which they joked around even though there were only eleven of them in the freaking galaxy.

They didn't know… they just didn't know what it was like to have to live everyday knowing you're one of the last 6000 people of what was once a culture of hundreds of thousands. Earth was a safe place, defended by technology she could only wish she had.

They just didn't know. "I know… I just want to find them that's all."

John looked back and saw Drake conversing with the Traveler tech team on how to properly use his engineering tools. Larrin was occupied when she suddenly felt John's hand on her left shoulder. "Sheppard?"

He was giving her a sympathetic face. She scanned it for pity but found none. "We're on the same side Larrin… don't forget that."

She didn't give him the pleasure of seeing her smile, but still nodded gently. "I know… I'm just worried."

-------------------------------

A pass into orbit revealed some odd fluctuations. Larrin pointed them out to John and looked on the sensors as the rest of the flight group joined them. "That looks like some kind of reflection… our scans are getting bounced."

John brought up the information and mused to himself. "Chaff…" Larrin furrowed her brow and gave John her typical _"I don't understand you'_ look. It had the intended effect and John began to explain. "Chaff is a defensive countermeasure… it's meant to bounce scans to keep missiles and weapons from locking properly."

Larrin raised an eyebrow. "You're saying someone tried to evade a missile?"

Shaking his head, John changed course to intercept. "No… I'm saying it reminds me of it and it's probably not natural."

Understanding, Larrin began a more intensive scan of the area. It took a few minutes before they were able to see what the 'chaff' was. "Aw crap…"

John groaned after cursing and zoomed in. Larrin narrowed her eyes and went over the data from the scan. "It's definitely debris… nowhere near enough to make up the ship but…" A mineral scan came in and Larrin winced. "It's definitely from my ship… looks like a piece of the armor plating."

It was sobering, and the group in the back silenced as the understood that the ship had likely been attacked. John sighed and tapped his communicator. "This is Sheppard to all ships, let's follow the debris field and see where it goes…"

A pair of 'yes sirs' and they moved forward. Doing a quick mass analysis, it looked as if chunks had been peeled off of the Traveler Craft… wherever it was.

The debris field got larger and larger, but the pieces themselves got smaller and smaller. It soon became too large to scan properly from one spot, and John tapped his headset again. "Alright kids, we're gonna spread out search. Looks like the ship might have gone down since this debris is heading towards the planet. Keep your eyes peeled and radio anything out of the ordinary." Larrin turned to look at John and saw him turn to face her. "If they went down… what are the chances they could have landed, even if it was a crash?"

Larrin thought about it for a second. The Traveler ships had atmospheric engines, as long as those were at least partially running, it was conceivable that they could have crash landed. "Pretty good as long as the engines didn't fry completely. Problem is the hull… if it was too weak, on impact it could just flatten."

John groaned softly as he imagined it. Larrin simply prayed to the ancestors that the hull survived the crash.

------------------------Chapter 3-----------------------

"_Sheppard… Vega here… I've got a contact about 200 miles from the gate on the night side of the planet. Looks like what's left of the Traveler ship."_

Larrin turned to John and with a narrowing of her eyes, said all she needed to say.

"Copy Vega… take some quick scans but wait for us to land."

Watching John turn the craft in the proper direction, she noted that the group in the back tensed as well, prepared for whatever was about to happen.

The craft nimbly entered the atmosphere and met up with Cadman's jumper about half way. The Captain's craft moving just a little erratically.

Larrin didn't put too much thought on it and instead focused on the ship below.

A tense minute passed until finally they could see the ship below. It had left a long destroyed skid mark in what appeared to be a spectacular crash. Through sheer luck, it had stayed relatively in once piece with the exception of various sections of armor and attachments.

John moved the Jumper around the ship once examining it. "I'm not picking up any life signs… but the Naquadah in the ground is messing up the scans. We'll have to actually land if we want to examine it closely."

Larrin nodded and turned to the team in the back. "Alright, we're going down there. Be ready for casualties and maybe even having to fix the ship up. Take your anti-rad meds."

The group in the back nodded and pulled out hyposprays. Each man injected himself and groaned as the drug spread through their systems. John turned and grimaced. "The hell is that?" Larrin pulled out her own spray and nailed John in the neck with it. "_Ow!_ _The hell?!"_

Fighting her smirk, Larrin just rolled her eyes and pointed to the ground. "Get us down there flyboy. You might feel a little lightheaded but you'll be fine." She then gave herself a shot of the medicine into her thigh and winced as she felt it flow through her body.

John grumbled, but then marked out a location on the ship. "All Jumpers, I'm marking out the hanger bay. It's still open so we're going to land right in there… Watch you don't bump each other on approach."

Two "Yes Sirs" and the crafts began their final descent.

-----------------------------------------------

"Still not picking up any life signs… radiation's tolerable… looks like a ghost ship."

Larrin growled softly towards Drake, but if he heard it, he didn't care. The entire team had pulled out flashlights and glow rods to look in the mostly dark Traveler ship. "They wouldn't leave the ship unless they had to. We should check the supply rooms to see if they took anything."

John nodded as the whole group got back together in the hanger bay of the Traveler craft. "How's the hull Drake? I don't want any accidents."

Narrowing her eyes to John, Larrin motioned with her head for the teams to split up. Drake replied in the meantime. "Hull looks intact…. Might have been a crash landing but I think it's salvageable. Some strange readings from the hull though."

Using his hands, John pointed out his own crew and motioned them into teams. "What _kind _of strange readings?"

"That's just it… I'm not detecting any residual energy signature you'd get from a weapon hitting the hull. Either they were shot down with solid projectiles that didn't get imbedded, or…"

Larrin didn't wait for John to reply. "Or what Soldier?"

Drake looked to Larrin, then to John for guidance, the Lieutenant Colonel nodded. "…or something _physically_ picked them apart."

A moment or two of silence, and John looked to the group. "Alright, Split up and search the ship. Cover the technicians and let em do their job." He turned to Larrin and nodded. "Let's go find that supply room."

Larrin unholstered her particle magnum and moved forward with John and their team. "Follow me."

The 3 man tech team fell in line, Drake stood beside Sheppard with his scanner in one hand, a particle magnum in the other.

Larrin moved quickly and with a purpose, she knew these ships like the back of her hand but it still felt slightly odd to be on one again after spending so much time in Atlantis. The wires and exposed inner hull reminded her just how close her people were to extinction.

The team remained silent as they moved along; the only sounds the odd creaking of metal or the beeping from Drake's scanner. Eventually Larrin found the supply room and tried to open the door. The opening mechanism was jammed though and she wasn't strong enough to pull it free. She turned expectantly to John and Drake who after a moment, moved in to help.

Between the three of them, the door finally pried open and surprisingly fell off its hinges. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter that shook the floor.

"_Anyone else hear that?"_

It was Vega; she must have been close by. Larrin ignored John's reply to her and moved into the room. To her relief, it had been emptied out. "Looks like they took everything… there would have been food, water, even some weapons in here."

John moved his head from side to side and furrowed his brow. "Why'd they leave the ship then? If it's stable…"

A sudden groaning sound loud enough to rattle the hull was heard. Dust and sparks flew from every crevice the ship had as the little power it had left. The entire group suddenly grew on edge, and John tapped his headset. "Okay… that wasn't us."

Larrin felt the adrenaline begin to rush. "We're not alone…"

------------------------Chapter 4------------------------

A few communiqués, another groan from outside, and the teams quickly began their retreat to the Jumpers. Larrin made sure all her people were inside before jumping on and screaming. "Get us outta here Sheppard!"

John shut the aft hatch of the ship and pulsed the engines, ahead, Cadman's Jumper along with Vega's was already ahead of him and he brought up the rear. "Hang on!"

The craft lurched out of the Traveler Hanger bay at top speed. The inertial dampeners did what they could but Larrin could still feel a slight pull into the back of her seat.

She didn't care though, and instead her fingers flew along the console to the sensors. "I'm picking up multiple… _what the hell!?"_

The HUD showed a strange staticy signal, _dozens _of them. They were about the size of a small truck and seemed to be flying around the Traveler ship pecking at it. John instantly tensed and barked into the radio. "All ships head back to the gate! Engage only if you come under attack!"

The wash of the engines ahead of them made for a slightly rough ride, and for a moment it seemed that the… _things_ were ignoring them. That is until a trio of them suddenly veered off and gave the Jumper group chase.

Larrin groaned and cursed the lack of turreted weaponry on this ship… then again it seemed like it hadn't done her people any good. "Faster would be better Sheppard."

Ignoring her, John pulled the ship higher into the atmosphere. "All Jumpers reach orbit… maybe these things can't follow us."

A tactical error, and Larrin had to call it. "These _things_ brought down a ship 30 times bigger than us _IN ORBIT_! _Faster!_ Not higher!"

Looking at her, John seemed to finally get it as well. "Check that! All power to engines! Try and outrun em!"

Two acknowledgements and Larrin felt a slightly stronger tug. She watched on the screen as the 3 _things_ slowly moved closer. "Can you get a visual?"

Shaking his head, John concentrated on flying the craft. "No… it's too dark… and they're _too fast…_"

The targets were indeed moving closer, and Larrin clenched her fist time and again. "Shoot them."

"Wish I could but Drones fire forward, I try and loop it back I'll prob'ly just hit _us!"_

They were getting _closer_. Almost within a hundred feet now. "Do _something!"_

"_I am!" _

It was unfair, but there wasn't any other option, they were 3 minutes from the gate and they'd be attacked long before…

_*CLUNK*_

The Jumper shifted even as it was flying from the impact.

_*CLUNK-CLUNK*_

Another two…. The three _things_ had latched on.

The whine of the engine began to fade, slowly at first, and John cried out. "The hell? Power's draining! Dammit those things are _leeching_ our power!"

There was nothing anyone in the craft could do, and for a moment Larrin imagined what it must have been like to be on the downed Traveler craft… helpless.

"_Hold still sir! I __mean__ it!"_

Vega's voice, over the radio. Larrin watched as ahead of them, one of the Jumpers span around in a _very _sharp 180 and a pair of drones spat out from the drive pods.

"_Oh SHIT!"_

Larrin closed her eyes as John swore loudly and prepared for the worst, but hearing an unholy _whoosh_ buzz to the left, and then another to the right gave thanks to the ancestors despite not really believing in them.

"_Bullseye Pendejos!!"_

Contrary to what Vega's enthusiasm was saying, power was still draining. "I still got one on my ass! It's…"

_*GROOOAN*_

Larrin turned in her seat at the sound, and got a perfect view as what looked like a giant spike penetrated the aft hatch, and seconds later ripped the entire door off. Were it not for the inertial dampeners, artificial gravity and deflector shield, she had no doubt that everyone would have been sucked out into the atmosphere.

Everyone was screaming now, rushing to the front compartment in horror. The…_thing_ was still unclear in the night air, but what looked like a long reflective spike slashed out into aft hatch and caught one of her technicians in the back of the leg with the point.

The man howled in pain, and to her surprise, Drake roared as he raised his P90.

It was an unholy ruckus, the loud gun deafened everything in the compartment and Larrin _almost_ wished he hadn't done it. Pieces of the spike shattered and flew around the jumper, the majority being sucked out into the open atmosphere of the aft hatch.

The Spike trembled as if in pain, and the other 2 technicians added their Particle Magnums to the mix.

The pockmarked spike took both hits, and seemed to react furiously to them. It lashed out again in a striking move and slapped Drake in the chest sending him into the wall.

Larrin saw the problem and dove to the ground grabbing an extra P90 on the wall. She flicked the safety off as she'd been trained months ago and held the trigger down.

The automatic weapon was easy to control with it's small size, and with no brass flying upwards, only the loud bangs of each bullet escaping the barrel threatened the group.

Drake recovered despite a little blood coming from the corner of his lips and added his own gun back to the mix.

The hailstorm of bullets slowly drew the spike back, out into the unseen black of night. Drake didn't stop though and kept on firing at where he assumed the _thing_ was. Larrin didn't see a reason to stop either and added her fire as well, fumbling after figuring out how to reload the weapon.

Vega's Jumper skimmed past quickly, and her voice was barely audible amidst the shots. _"Sheppard! Those things are falling back! They're moving into orbit!"_

John's voice was also barely audible, but coherent once they stopped firing. _"Copy! Get back to Atlantis __now!__"_

Larrin felt a tug of war, part of her wanted to stay, but another wanted to run. As a Traveler, they'd always been on the run from the Wraith. Only occasionally would the Travelers form a bigger group to launch an attack… and then only to defend what was theirs.

But this was just that… she wasn't sure the people on that ship they'd left behind were dead for a fact… she still prayed that they could be alive. "If those things are leaving, we should go back and look for our people…"

John looked at her as if she were insane, but after a moment of staring at each other he nodded. "…_Alright… _But we're going to Atlantis first… I'm not coming back unless we're armed properly."

Larrin felt the urge to argue it. But now as she moved over to help both Drake and her Technician, Larrin realized that she was being too impulsive… and for once in their relationship, John was right.

-------------------------Chapter 5--------------------------

"_Atlantis, this is Nevas on Jumper 2, we've found survivors. Need medical teams in the gate room."_

Larrin noted that her people who had taken up Ronon and John on their offers to train had begun to speak like the Lanteans… very professional, disciplined… not like the typical rough and seat of your pants way she was used to.

Chuck beside her tapped his headset and made the necessary calls. "Copy that, we'll be waiting."

Larrin brought a hand down to Chuck's shoulder, and quietly she muttered. "Ask them how many."

Turning to face her, Chuck could see that Larrin was bothered by the events of hours ago. Her fingernails still stained with the blood of the wounded technician. "… Nevas… how many survivors did you guys find?"

A few moments passed, an eternity in Larrin's mind.

"_Sixty Seven, 15 casualties. 8 in the crash, another 7 from those… hostiles… we didn't see anymore of them but we've recovered some fragments."_

Sixty-Seven. Sixty Seven lives saved…. Fifteen lost. Larrin knew she should feel happy, but instead all she felt was pain.

Wordlessly she left Chuck's side, feeling the sudden need to be alone.

-----------------------------------------------------------

They'd hid in a cave, hiding from the _monsters_ as the survivors put it. The Captain had been one of the casualties, staying back to hold them off with the ship's remaining weapons.

Larrin watched as families reunited, the survivors going immediately to see their loved ones in the mess hall after being cleared in the infirmary. The victim's families mourned…. Just as they always did…

She'd then given her personal thanks to Drake, the man's heavy vest had saved him from serious injury, but Carson and Reyna wanted to keep him for a day or two for observation. Her technician was in good spirits as well, the spike from the creature having only created a flesh wound that would heal in a few weeks.

She watched from afar as Sheppard congratulated Vega on successfully becoming a true Jumper pilot in his eyes, the rest of her people… the _Lanteans_… all around celebrating.

Fifteen people had died, and they were celebrating this Captain's accuracy with Drone weapons. Larrin couldn't blame them… she herself would have likely died if not for Vega's intervention.

So Larrin did what she always did, she hid her dejection behind the glass of scotch Sheppard had managed to find somewhere and raised her glass in a toast to the embarrassed Captain as Sheppard and Dusty each gave her a playful one armed hug.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Ma-am… we're receiving a signal from the Traveler Ships you dispatched to salvage the Hylea."

Larrin hated that Sam wasn't a robot and couldn't stay in charge all day long, Granted a 5 hour shift in the control room wasn't _that_ bad, but she had other things to do. "Put it on screen."

Ever since the crash, Larrin had her ships travel in wolf packs of three together. It would slow down the exploration time, but increase their chances in a hostile situation. Captain Sotal appeared on screen, his face pale. "Larrin."

"Sotal." The man seemed stricken and breathed heavily, much more so than Larrin was accustomed to from her people. "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Sotal nodded and tapped a few buttons. "You could say that."

The screen changed from his face to a view of the planet… or what was left of it. It was almost as if something had torn the planet apart from the inside and it had collapsed in on itself. Sotal's voice narrated the scene. "The entire planet's been torn apart… we've got no clue what's happened. The Naquadah is giving off a _very_ strong radiation signature and we can't get too close. Our sensors are blocked as well. We've got no clue what happened."

The shock in Larrin's core was too much, she hardly noticed Zelenka come up beside her in an equal amount of shock. "Mother of god_…"_

Larrin didn't understand that saying, but the way he said it was enough to match her own feelings. "…Get out of there Sotal; I'm marking this planet off-limits as well as the surrounding 10 light year radius. Resume your original survey."

Sotal's face came back on screen, a little more flushed and normal. "Yes Larrin, we'll contact you again if anything appears out of the ordinary."

The feed shut off, and Larrin couldn't help but notice that despite the shock of what had happened, she still felt alone in the room of technicians and scientists.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sleep had been a problem, and Larrin went about the next day tired and somnolent. It wouldn't be easy for her to accept what had happened, but it would come eventually… it always did.

A strange consolation came over her though, most everyone else seemed to have a similar feeling to her, beat down… almost as if the events of the last few weeks were finally starting to wear down their defenses. Misery may love company, but Larrin hated misery.

Despite this, she still found him somehow. Maybe Larrin had some innate hunting skill from living her whole life in space, or maybe she'd just gotten used to hanging out with him. "Hey."

The dark haired man spun around drunkenly, something that surprised Larrin enough to raise her eyebrows. "_Hey Larrun… come hav'a drink wit me."_

The bottle in one of his hands was about half full, but it was a large bottle. Larrin recognized it as one of the bottles of scotch he'd found earlier. "You're trashed Sheppard."

On the balcony she'd found him on, it was doubtful anyone would hear his drunken ramblings. "_Maybe a 'lil'_… Come on! Am not _stooopid _drunk yet."

Finding no real reason not to, Larrin moved forward and snatched the bottle out of his hands. "Let's try and avoid that shall we?" Taking a swig of the oh so harsh and yet oh so right liquor, she closed her eyes in a grimace and made a disgusted sound. "_Bllech _eugh… you're crazy to drink this."

She turned to look at John again, and nearly did a double take as he'd somehow magically gotten _another_ smaller bottle and was nursing it. "Thas wha you think woman."

Having found precious little humor over the last few days, Larrin let out a loud cackle at John's sudden immature behavior. It was a refreshing change to the suave and yet dark man she'd come to know.

Once they both stopped laughing, John seemed to somehow become coherent. Perhaps he was being honest in that he wasn't that drunk. "Tough couple days."

Larrin nodded and took a swig from the original bottle. The bitter tang was exactly what she wanted to feel. "Yeah…"

"You okay?"

Chuckling softly, Larrin shook her head. "Not particularly. I ordered them there… and I can't help but feel responsible."

John shrugged and took a swig. "We are."

It was a simple enough answer, and Larrin couldn't help but feel just a little better. John understood and even more, he knew there was nothing they could do about it. "Heard Drake got out today. Just some bruised ribs."

"He's a tough guy, he'll live… heard your tech is gonna be okay too."

Larrin smiled, it was nice to know John cared about her people as well. "Yeah… maybe not as tough, but he'll be alright."

A moment passed, and John changed the subject. "So Daniel and _Carter_ went over the data from the Jumpers… still can't make heads or tails what attacked us."

Larrin furrowed her brow. "Carter? You mean Sam?"

Scoffing softly, John took a heavy swig and couldn't hide his small scowl. "_Yeah…_ _Samantha Carter_…."

_Okay…._ "Uhh… I'm not gonna ask."

Rubbing his face with one hand, John started chuckling. "But you want to…"

Another heavy swig, and Larrin decided to open up a little more. "Well… yeah."

John started chuckling mindlessly, almost as if he were unable to comprehend what he was thinking about. "You uh… you know me and Sam have been…?"

Unable to contain her smirk, Larrin deadpanned. "Sleeping together? Yeah. The whole base knows. We're just nice enough not to mention it."

John groaned softly, and after a moment gave a scoffing laugh. "…Futurama… a bite… and sleep… that's _it_…"

Larrin believed him. Both John and Sam were always just a hair trigger on edge so it was obvious that they weren't… _relieving_ their stress with each other. "I don't have a clue what the hell Futurama is… but I getcha."

Drawing in a long breath through his nose, Larrin couldn't tell if he was sniffling or just drowsy. "This morning… I woke up… and there she was… right next to me all cuddled up…"

"Okay… too much information."

Ignoring Larrin apparently, John continued half drunkenly. "…I give her a little shake… just wanna wake her up… she looks right at me… still half asleep…"

"Sheppard. You're drunk."

Contrary to Larrin's accusation, John felt completely sober as he finished. "She smiles… she gives this soft little moan… and she says. _'Morning __Jack.'_"

Larrin scrunched her brow. Unsure of what to make of it. "Uhh… you do realize Jack and John are pretty similar?"

John snorted and shook his head. "Not this Jack and John… fuck… she didn't even notice till I kinda looked at her and…"

He sighed dejectedly, and Larrin felt her heartstring tug. The spiky haired bastard sure knew how to get to her. "Hey… it's alright…"

"No…. no it's not alright… "

"You love her don't you?"

John started laughing out loud, almost mocking Larrin. "_Love her?_ _God no_…_!_ I… I don't know what the hell I feel about her… it's like…" he turned to Larrin and looked so vulnerable… something Larrin didn't like to see. "… like I care about you… I care about her too… and it's taken me 2 fucking months to realize I'm just using her as a crutch… and she's doing the same to me…"

_Didn't this guy just drink half a bottle of straight Liquor?_ "Crutch? Wha…?"

Shaking his head, John sighed and rubbed his temple. "…Never mind… just… just I can't do it anymore… I… I thought I could lie to myself… convince myself I…" He paused for a moment and turned again to Larrin. "…I can't. And I can't keep going like this… I need to do this on my own and…"

Having absolutely _no clue_ what John was talking about, Larrin simply put an arm around him and hugged gently. "Come on… I'll make sure you don't pass out in the hallway ya silly drunk."

John chuckled, and took another heavy drink from his small bottle. "Ugh… need stronger stuff… you got any Traveler Moonshine?"

Larrin thought about seeing how Sheppard would hold up against some Traveler Ale, she herself had never been able to drink more than a glass or two before it got to her. "Yeah, but yer not getting any tonight." Seeing his dejected face, she knew he'd gotten her double entendre. "_..and yes… _You're not getting any of _that_ either… Like you'd be any good as drunk as you are."

John scoffed in defense. "Please… I'm 6 outta 10 drunk… wait till I'm 8 outta 10, then insult my manhood."

Even if there might have been people around, and despite his obvious melancholy, Larrin still laughed at John's shameless drunken behavior. It served well to relax her own stress… knowing that she wasn't alone in feeling on your own.

----------------------------------------------------

"Uhh okay… so I… _check_?"

Reyna was still having trouble grasping the grammar of poker, but for the most part she turned out to be a decent player. Sitting across from her, Drake chuckled drunkenly and nodded. "Yeah, I'da thought ol' chucky cheese here'd taught ya better'n dat."

Chuck rolled his eyes, these youngsters were about to get a serious taste of what a true bluffer could accomplish with a good hand… and a decent tolerance for alcohol. "Pft, last time I heard that, Michael Jackson was still black."

To the side, Vega chuckled and stretched her arms. She looked quite tired and still mildly drunk. "_Good god_… how old _are_ you Chuck?"

A well-hidden secret, much like just about every aspect of the Chuck. "A gentleman never tells."

Drake scoffed drunkenly and tossed his chips in defiantly. "Well does a _gentleman_ raise or you give up?"

Reyna smiled and after a little examining the others dropped her cards. "I flip."

Vega snorted, and snickered hard at the massacre. "That's… _fold _Rey…" she smiled at Chuck, seemingly seeing right through his cards and dropped hers as well. "…and I fold too."

Chuck stretched his arms and looked around. Off to the side, he saw Dusty sleeping her excessive drinking off on Ronon's shoulder, the Satedan content simply to lie back on the couch with Dusty on his arm. Vega seemed pretty chipper too, but an element of depression was visible in her posture. And Drake… Drake just looked completely crazy. "What say we make this interesting?"

"Ohh?"

Chuck nodded and looked right at Drake. "I win… You take my shift next week in the control room. You win… I'll take your shift with the repair crews next week."

Everyone in the room knew Drake hated having to weld conduit and plates back into place when he was a trained Marine. "Yer on!"

Vega snickered madly and leaned back on her chair. "Alright… let's see em boys!"

Drake smiled and dropped his cards. "Three of a kind!" He was just about to cheer when Chuck dropped his cards.

"Full house."

Both Reyna and Vega groaned softly in sympathy for the drunk lieutenant. His groan of dejection was utterly hilarious. "Aw _shit_."

Chuck snickered and used two fingers to wave Drake move closer. "How bout this…? It's… _somebody's_ birthday in a few weeks. You bring some of that blue stuff you made and we'll call it even."

Shrugging, Drake leaned forward onto the table. "Fine… better than a double shift…"

He laid his arms out like pillows and groaned into them. Within moments, he'd passed out. Chuck rolled his eyes and felt sympathy for the man.

In fact… Chuck felt sympathy for everyone, that's why he hoped that planning this party so long in advance would help with morale

-------------------------------------------------------------

Teaser for Next Episode (Release on Wednesday)

--------------------------------

**Episode 6 – The Motions**

_86 Days in Hoag's Object_

--------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell:** _"That's a hell of a way to spar."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"I'll say. I know women who'd pay to be in that position."_

**Chuck Campbell:** _"Do I detect jealousy?"_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Chuck!!"_

**Alicia Vega:** "_Don't deny it… look how hard you're blushing."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Alicia!!"_

**Reyna Arius:** _"If it makes you feel better, I'd probably pay too."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Rey!!"_

**Chuck Campbell:** _"This is why I don't talk much."_

--------------------------------


	6. The Motions

--------------------------------

**Episode 6 – The Motions**

_86 Days in Hoag's Object_

--------------------------------

**A/N:** _Woo Hoo! Last slow episode (Emphasis on teh funny)! I wanna thank __**TheIceMenace**__ for some brainstorming on this and some other future aspects. W00T!_

_MASSIVE PROPS to __**NEELA! **__She made a new Banner for the Gateworld Thread that looks AMAZING. Totally unexpected, and I am utterly grateful to her for it!_

--------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell:** _"That's a hell of a way to spar."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"I'll say. I know women who'd pay to be in that position."_

**Chuck Campbell:** _"Do I detect jealousy?"_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Chuck!!"_

**Alicia Vega:** "_Don't deny it… look how hard you're blushing."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Alicia!!"_

**Reyna Arius:** _"If it makes you feel better, I'd probably pay too."_

**Rafaela Esposito:** _"Rey!!"_

**Chuck Campbell:** _"This is why I don't talk much."_

--------------------------------

The party was going to be awesome. Chuck hadn't seen anyone celebrate in an organized fashion like this in months and he knew Dusty was going to freak. _Especially_ because she thought nobody knew it was her birthday.

Chuck had found out the way he always did, hacking. Sam had _much _stronger database security than the average commander, but even her 21 digit long password (_73ChN0B4BbL3S4MC4R73R) _eventually cracked under his tireless effort. (_Though it did prove she was L337)_

He justified it as being bored was much more torturous than spending his time doing _something_… Whether that was designing stuff in AutoCAD, or hacking into ridiculously secure databases was inconsequential. It's not like he ever _admitted_ he knew what he knew…

Besides, he never knew that Lieutenant Dan Drake's real name was Slobodan Draculic.

So now as he began to get everyone to confirm that they'd be there for the surprise party, he couldn't help but notice just how… _off_ everyone seemed.

He walked up to the control room. Zelenka and Mila were both there working on power distribution. It had been almost 3 months now and the city was starting to resemble normality.

"_No no no… too much power and conduits might rupture!"_

"_Raddy, they'll take it. Trust me!"_

"_I do… and that's why conduits should be started _slowly_. Too much power and we wear the patches out!"_

"_It doesn't matter… it's not like we're fighting the Wraith anymore… we can fix it as it goes along!"_

Standard geek argument. Chuck understood it, but actively chose not to participate; instead, he walked up and smiled at them both. "Hey guys."

Radek smiled sarcastically _(not that he was being offensive; Chuck knew that was just the way Radek was wired.)_ "Hello Chuck."

Mila smiled suggestively at him. "Hey Chuck… _how's Larrin?"_

Blushing just a tad. _(Mila had caught him and Larrin making out a few days ago in a transporter) _Chuck cocked his head and smiled. "She's… good." Pushing forward before Mila could tease him, Chuck said. "Hey, we're having a surprise party for Dusty tonight. It's her birthday."

The Traveler girl smiled and furrowed her brow. "Surprise party? How can it be a surprise if she knows it's her birthday?"

Chuck winced, and snickered to himself as Radek explained the concept to her. She grew excited and then gave Chuck a toothy grin. "Hey Chucky! It's my birthday in a few weeks! Surprise me?"

Snorting, Chuck looked up at Radek who gave a soft mutter of Czech. "What do you say Radek? Surprise party in a few weeks?"

Now silently chuckling, Radek nodded. "Yes… I will not miss either… although Sergeant Mehra and I normally do not speak very much."

Chuck shrugged. "Doesn't matter. There'll be so many people there I'm sure you'll both have fun." Chuck looked down at Mila and decided to get some revenge. "I'll be sure to invite Wex… I'm sure he'll apprec…"

Mila blushed faster than anyone Chuck had even seen before. "_Chuck!"_

The named man laughed and shook his head idly.

-------------------------------------------------------

The grunts and screaming from the gym sounded more like a bad porno than it did training. Chuck was almost afraid to go in, but decided that it would be better to know and deal with the mental image than not know and deal with his imagination going wild.

He walked in and instantly noticed Dusty on the floor, in tight spandex, with one leg looped around Ronon's neck, the other flailing about, and her hands trying to get him in a strange sideways half nelson. Ronon seemed to be more enjoying himself than scared of her attack, and spun her around like a ragdoll.

Admittedly, they _were_ hitting each other, so it wasn't some strange Satedan mating ritual, but he was pretty sure that even if it _was_ a mating ritual, the large crowd in the stands would still be there.

He saw some of the others sitting by each other watching, some in gym gear, others not. He walked up and after some light greeting, sat down to watch for a few minutes.

It was an interesting sparring session to say the least. Ronon seemed to be totally unaffected by Dusty's attacks, yet at the same time he wasn't really attacking her either. It almost seemed just to be an excuse to touch each other in strange ways. Chuck wondered why Ronon wasn't actually trying to train her… it seemed off for him to be so… _easy going._

"That's a hell of a way to spar." Chuck muttered as Dusty screamed when Ronon picked her up firefighter style and threatened to toss her to the ground.

"I'll say. I know women who'd pay to be in that position." Rafaela snickered as she took a sip from her bottle. She'd been practicing a bit too but seemed more entertained with the odd dance in front of her than actual sparring. Evidently training made her more prone to speaking without thinking.

Deciding to tease her a little, Chuck mused. "Do I detect jealousy?"

The physicist suddenly blushed and smacked Chuck's shoulder. "_Chuck!!_"

On her other side, Alicia snickered and gave Rafaela a little smack of her own with her elbow. "Don't deny it… look how hard you're blushing."

Apparently, Rafaela had taken _'sparring for embarrassed women 101'_ as she backhanded Alicia across the knee. "_Alicia!!_"

It was almost magnificent to see, but the domino effect worked wonders as Reyna, who sat behind Rafaela with her knees up to her chin added with a shrug. "If it makes you feel better, I'd probably pay too."

"_Rey!!_"

It was quite funny even with Rafaela arguing a moot point. "This is why I don't talk much." Chuck snickered a bit, waited for the three friends to calm down, and then continued. "So hey, it's Dusty's birthday and we're throwing a surprise party for her tonight. Can I count on you all there?"

Alicia instantly nodded and smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Rafaela shrugged about as if unsure. "I think Radek wanted to test the latest repairs to the power grid… there's a lot of labs that still don't have power… "Seeing Chuck's disapproving face, and hearing Dusty growl as she hooked her arms around Ronon's neck trying and failing to choke him out, she smiled. "…but I'll try my best."

Turning to Reyna now, Chuck saw that she wasn't happy. "Aww don't tell me you can't come?"

Reyna sighed and muttered. "It's my shift tonight… Maybe I can convince someone to cover me, but I doubt it."

Disappointed, Chuck got up and yawned. "Try. We haven't had a good party since Leese here saved our asses so I'm totally looking forward to this." Going into his playful mood, Chuck moved around almost as if he were dancing. "Gonna cut a little loose… _relaaax_."

The small group giggled at his actions, and Reyna promised she'd try.

Chuck then excused himself, ignored the moan from Dusty as Ronon did something to her back. _(He couldn't tell if he was feeling her up or trying to break her spine, but whatever it was Dusty was certainly enjoying herself) _and left the gym.

---------------------Chapter 2-----------------------

"That's…" Chuck didn't really have the words to describe it. It was certainly the last thing he'd expected from the man.

Drake for that matter chuckled and shut off the torch. "Yeah… well like you told me, it's _somebody's_ birthday and I gotta make sure I give her a _nice _present or she'll kick my ass."

The statue was deceptively beautiful, different colors and plates formed almost an angular version of Dusty. It was by far the biggest prank gift Chuck had _ever_ seen. "She's going to _kill_ you."

The Lieutenant chuckled and reached down into the little cooler he had. "Actually it'll probably be Ronon, but it'll be worth it to see her face." Pulling out a pair of bottles, he tossed one to Chuck. "Come on! I need a hand moving this thing anyway."

Rolling his eyes and realizing that Drake was paying him for the help with beer _(At least what looked like beer) _ Chuck shrugged and took a hold of one of the parts of the statue he felt was cool and stable enough to get a good purchase. "Ready?"

Drake nodded and grabbed a hold as well. Between the two of them, the 120 pounds of steel didn't seem like so much.

Of course neither expected to have to lug the thing down a flight of stairs to get to the nearest transporter. By the time they reached there, sweat was beading down both of their necks. The fact that several Travelers had seen them and given them odd glances didn't affect either man.

Drake caught his breath at the bottom of the stairs and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Where's the party?"

Chuck panted as well, and replied between breaths. "Secondary… Mess… Hall… "

Nodding, Drake groaned softly. "Let's get this down there… cover it with a tarp or something. It can be the center piece!"

Chuck laughed at the thought. Dusty was already going to maim him for throwing this party, what would she do to suddenly have a metallic sculpture that kinda looked like her be the center piece of her party? "Brilliant."

----------------------------------------------------------

"Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine… That's what my people technically call what most of what you're holding in your hands."

Chuck watched as Laura gave a class on explosives to one of the potential Traveler Teams that wanted to be a part of Atlantis's military force. Only around a hundred and fifty total were left from the original 200, the rest having washed out in physical training with Ronon or endurance running with Sheppard.

Now came the difficult testing, understanding the weapons the Earth Marines used. Chuck watched with reserved humor as the small group of around 20 Travelers messed around with small gobs of C4.

Laura continued her class. "Since that's such a long and boring term, we just call it RDX. It's the main explosive component in the clay you've got in your hands. It can be mixed with different stabilizers and plasticizers in order to create different effects."

Chuck knew a little about this stuff. The Air Force had trained him to be a computer and mechanical technician, but he still liked to blow things up like any red blooded… Hmm… Chuck began to wonder how much hanging around Americans for the past few years had affected his Canadian heritage.

"Because it's such a stable explosive, it takes a detonator to set it off. You can actually set this stuff on fire…" Laura demonstrated by sticking a small clump of C4 on a small wooden stick, then roasting it like a marshmallow over a fire. "…and it'll burn pretty slowly. I've heard stories of soldiers on my planet about 30 to 40 years ago burning this stuff to heat their food and water."

The Travelers seemed intrigued; Laura was a surprisingly good teacher. Chuck merely sat back and watched admirably.

The Captain went over the whole dynamics of C4, including shaped charges before giving them all assignments to do, and finally dismissing the class. She sighed as she sat back in her chair. "Don't tell me you wanna learn to blow stuff up too?"

Chuck shook his head as he took a seat. "I hear this is the most popular class."

Laura groaned and leaned her elbows on the desk. "I'd rather be helping Carson clean out his mock skeleton's colon."

A little disturbed by her admission, Chuck shuddered befre replying. "That's..." He chuckled for a moment then pushed it aside. "…In any case… I'm throwing a party for Dusty tonight. It's her birthday."

Laura narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"

Chuck shrugged and decided to be mysterious. "Same way I know yours, By the way, I can totally see you as a Gemini."

Laura's eyes went wide and she clenched her fist. "You ever hear of Voodoo?"

Laughing at the threat, Chuck got up and cocked his head. "Show up tonight and nobody has to find out."

Seeing that Chuck was unafraid of her, Laura smiled and nodded appreciative of his boldness. "Deal."

**-------------------Chapter 3------------------**

"Sergeant… something the matter?"

Chuck shook his head and winced slightly. "Doc… no one _ever_ calls me Sergeant."

Carson rolled his eyes and smiled. "I _cannot_ call you Chuck and stay serious."

Shrugging, Chuck smiled. "That's kinda the point." He shook his head idly and sat down on the chair in front of Carson's desk. "I got an offer and a request…"

Carson saw that Chuck was being a joker, and decided to waste a minute or two. "Alright… an offer I can't refuse?"

Chuck smiled, and shrugged again. "You could say that. It's Dusty's birthday today and I'm throwing a surprise party. I want everyone from Earth there and here's your invite."

Slapping down an imaginary envelope, Carson chuckled. "I'll assume you're trying to get Reyna to go as well?"

Giving Carson an innocent grin, Chuck hid nothing and everything at the same time. "Well if she can come too that'd be great!"

Carson narrowed his eyes, and after a moment nodded. "We'll be there… Sergeant Mehra should celebrate. :Lord knows we need some happiness…" Carson sighed and rubbed his temple. "I don't suppose you can do _me_ a favor while you're at it?"

Being a nice guy could get annoying sometimes… and thankfully this wasn't one of them. "Sure… what's up?"

Carson pushed out of his chair and motioned with his head. "Come with me…"

Chuck got up and obediently followed. Heading towards the lab, Chuck began to get worried. "Uhh… you're not going to try and test something on me are you?"

A low chuckle left Carson's mouth, and he shook his head as he stopped at a computer. "Don't think I haven't considered it…" A warm smile told Chuck he wasn't going to mutate anytime soon. "Actually I need you to take this information to Colonel Carter and Sheppard. Lord knows I've tried to get them both down here to look over this, but it's like they've suddenly got 20 other things to do."

Chuck had noticed that Sam and John were quite busy all the time as well, he made a small mental note to go see if they would come to the party. "Sure thing… what is it?"

A brightness lit up in Carson's eyes, something that worried Chuck. "Aye, it's rather interesting really. Do you remember the creature Doctor Jackson brought back from the mainland a few months ago?"

Chuck nodded. "Yeah, damn thing went crazy."

"Yes well… I've compared the autopsy I did on that creature with the fragments the Travelers brought back from their downed ship. While it's not a match, there are many similarities between their construction."

Blinking a few times in confusion, Chuck deadpanned. "Doc… I'm a tech, not a brainiac."

Groaning softly, Carson waved him into looking at the screen below him. "Just look see…" the screen showed an opening file, information along with a picture of the original creature appeared. "This here is the creature, a Silicon/Carbon based hybrid. We've already been able to decode how it's DNA structure works along with many other interesting facts…"

Not one to remain outside the loop, Chuck asked. "Oh, like what?"

Smiling, Carson knew he'd found the right person to tell. "Well.. despite the Carbon based musculature, Which in itself is a completely different style than anything I've seen before, the silicon exoskeleton acts almost like armor. It's nigh impervious to any energy weapons as it literally feeds off it to create heat energy. The creature then uses this heat energy in combination with a form of sulfuric acid in its belly to digest minerals back to their basic elements. It can grow exponentially by using those basic elements, and from what I can tell, it can easily survive in areas where a human would need significant life support systems."

A lot of information, and Chuck scratched his temple. "So… it's like a living crystal?"

"Essentially yes… but that's not the most exciting bit."

Another picture appeared on the screen, this one a DNA strand that was similar, but not the same. "DNA?"

Carson nodded. "Correct, but no ordinary DNA, this is literally the building blocks for a silicon based lifeform."

"You mean like the creature? So those things that attacked us last month are like them?"

Shaking his head now, Carson pulled out a minidisc from the computer. "No no no… not a hybrid. A fully silicon based life form that can survive in space! It doesn't even require oxygen, just hydration and heat."

Chuck furrowed his brow. He'd read enough Wikipedia while on gate watch duty to know issues with this. "But isn't that next to impossible? I mean… there's so many issues with that kind of life."

"Yes but that's just it… the readings I'm getting _shouldn't_ be naturally possible… something or someone changed the laws of nature in this galaxy!"

Chuck rolled his eyes now understanding. "The Ancients… got it."

-----------------------------------------

"_I guess I never thought I'd ever do something like that."_

Chuck froze, he was still out of visual range of the pair on the balcony, and from the tone of voice of his commander, it wasn't the kind of conversation to butt in on.

"_It's okay Sam… He obviously understands."_

Daniel and Sam… two bosom buddies. For a second, Chuck found himself missing Amelia Banks, his own bosom buddy.

"_I'm just not used to admitting I did something stupid."_

Now Chuck was getting worried, what could be so bad that Sam was…?

Panic struck Chuck's mind, fears of a miniature version of Sam and John mixed together constricted Chuck's throat!

"_I guess it's good that we realized this now, before something we couldn't work through happened."_

Relief washed over the Canadian Technician, things were unlikely to become a drama fest anytime soon… at least it _sounded_ like that… He decided to wait another minute then pretend he hadn't heard anything at all and interrupt them. Sam's voice was depressed but not emotional, and Daniel's was almost deadpan.

"_I think it's good that you two figured this out now…. I sorta guessed you two were… well… you know… it's actually kind of surprising that you weren't."_

"_Well that's my fault. I didn't let it go that far. The one smart thing I did."_

"_Probably.. I think he was more confused than anything though, what with uhh… well you know."_

"_I know… and I guess I just thought I needed something. Something I could keep a hold of to get over the shock. I realize it was weak and I can deal with it now, but I can't help but think I've ruined a great friendship just for… a little… relief."_

"_I think you two can get through this from the little you've told me. Granted, you tried to get to the bottom of the deep end with a life vest on..."_

"_Great… that's some fine advice there Danny boy."_

"_Oh Come on now… look at it this way, take a step back, see what's really there, don't worry about… __that…__ and just worry about everything else. He's already doing that as far as I can tell. Just wait a bit and then try and talk about it like the mature adults I know are hiding inside you guys."_

"_Funny, remind me why I rarely talk to you about this stuff?"_

Chuck counted off 55 on his watch, and decided to make a lot of noise on his entrance in order to appear that he wasn't sneaking.

Both Sam and Daniel turned from their standing position on the balcony, A little too quick to be a regular reaction, and Chuck could tell they were worried. "Hey guys! I'm uhh… not interrupting anything am I?"

Sam and Daniel looked to each other, then shook their heads as one. "No no no… what's going on Chuck?"

Smiling as genuinely as he could, Chuck pulled out the disc Carson had given him. "Two things. One is this is from Carson. It's an analysis on the fragments of those creatures that attacked the Hylea a few weeks ago."

Sam accepted the disc and stood in a professional posture. "Good. I'll make sure to go over this with Larrin."

Daniel, never one to miss much, nodded expectantly. "And the second?"

A small shrug, it was only an invite anyway and he wasn't sure if Sam would take it. "Well… it's Dusty's birthday today, I'm throwing her a surprise party and I wanted everyone from Earth there."

Daniel smiled instantly and replied. "Oh really? That's a great idea! I think all the former expedition members should come."

Chuck nodded in agreement. "That's what I was thinking." He looked at Sam expectantly.

Sam for that matter shrugged and kept non-committal. "I'll try and make it… but I can't promise anything."

Understanding, Chuck nodded and quickly skedaddled outta there. He didn't understand exactly what was going on, but he knew not to touch it with a 10 foot pole _(or in Canada, a 3.048 meter long pole)_

-------------------**-Chapter 4----**--------------------

"_Ow…! _Chuck? Is that you?"

Admittedly catching the Lieutenant Colonel in this position wasn't what Chuck had hoped for, but it was still kinda funny. "Uhh yeah… sorry."

John pulled himself out from under the console, one hand rubbing his forehead from having smacked it. "Warn me next time you're going to knock something over?"

The roll of cable that had unspooled next Chuck's feet lay guiltily as the reason John had jumped up into the bottom of the console. "I'll try sir."

John chuckled and rubbed the rapidly forming bruise on his head. "Need something?"

Shrugging as he always did, Chuck sat down on the nearest chair. "It's Dusty's birthday today, so I'm throwing her a surprise party. It should be starting in about 4 hours once I can trick her into showing up."

A hearty laugh left John's throat and he sighed. "Sounds like fun. I'll bring my guitar."

"Great! That'll spice things up." Chuck wasn't surprised, the Lieutenant Colonel was probably the most easy going commander he'd ever had, though everyone knew that he could be a real beast if you angered him or didn't follow his command during a crisis.

Having heard the conversation between Sam and Daniel though, he couldn't help but see John a little differently. Something had happened… and whatever it was John was obviously repressing it behind his smile. It surprised Chuck to see him in that light.

So as Chuck got up and began to wander around the ship looking for Major Marks, he really started to think about it.

Everyone seemed… _off _Almost as if they were just going through the motions of each day.

Nothing told him that more than the sparring session earlier. Ronon had always been more than willing to kick anyone's ass just to teach them… and yet he was more playing with Dusty than anything else.

As he thought further about it… didn't Mila say something about who cared about the conduits holding up to extreme pressure since they weren't fighting the Wraith anymore?

And what about Carter? Jesus, if that wasn't a beat down he sure as hell didn't know what one was. Chuck was always impressed with her, but now he didn't know whether to feel sorry that she had so much stress, or impressed that she bore it so well when not alone with her trusted friends.

He found Marks working diligently, a smile on his face. It was strange to see the man happy to be looping cable through drilled holes in the wall. "Chuck! What brings you out here?"

The Major had loosened up from his typical ramrod straight being. In fact, he almost seemed to be enjoying himself on this ship.

If it weren't for the fact that Chuck hadn't seen him in almost a week, he'd think the Major was relatively normal. "Oh just stopped by to tell you guys. It's Dusty's birthday and we're throwing her a surprise party in the mess hall. Love it if you could swing by."

Marks winced slightly and shook his head. "Sorry, love to stop by but Kat promised to help me install some new additions to the ship… She's almost ready to fly again."

'_Obsessed a little?'_ thought Chuck. "Aw come on, one day away isn't gonna bring the ship down. Tell Katana to come too. Even just to say hi."

The Major shrugged around a bit, yanked the cable through like an electrician, and then said. "…Hmm… I'll try. But if I don't show give Dusty my best."

There wasn't much more Chuck could ask for, so he nodded and excused himself. Marks stopped him from leaving though with his strong voice. "Hey wait!"

Chuck turned and faced the Major. "What is it?"

The Major smiled and motioned to the ship. "It'll just be another few weeks before she's ship shape… I'm not sure I want a Traveler at the helm though…"

Chuck raised his eyebrows. "You… you want me to fly this thing?"

Marks cleaned his hands with a rag he had in his pocket and nodded. "Temporarily at least, I figure you'll be more comfortable with the systems until one of Katana's people gets fully trained on it."

_Ahhh…_ "Oh… well… that'd be okay I guess. Just uhh… tell Carter and Larrin and I'm sure there won't be a problem."

Marks nodded, and sighed contentedly. "It'll be nice to get back out there. I miss flying this old bird."

_Yer crazy…._ "Yeah I can totally get that." Now feeling the need to exflitrate himself from this situation, Chuck made a pointing motion with his hand. "I gotta go get the party ready… I'll uhh… I'll see ya."

The Major gave him a small salute farewell, and Chuck questioned just how insane this galaxy was making people.

-----------------------------------------------------

"I dunno Ronon… don't people eat here?"

Chuck flinched at hearing Dusty's words, _What had Ronon told her to convince her to come here!?_

"_Surprise!!" _The light flicked on, and the entire ambush group jumped out and cheered.

Chuck was glad that he'd let Ronon in on this. It had taken awhile to explain the concept of a surprise party, but he'd come to agree that she'd love it. It also lowered the likelihood that Ronon would react and start shooting so that was a plus.

The woman in question though instantly covered her face and blushed heavily obviously very embarrassed. "_Oh my god!_ How… _how'd you know?!_"

The lights had come up revealing some decorations, and over 2 dozen guests. The only people missing were Sam and Marks, though there was still a chance they might show up.

Everyone else though was here, and they all pointed to Chuck who smiled deviously. "Guilty as charged."

Dusty started giggling to herself, then used her hand to slap at Chuck playfully. "Oh my god… Chuck you _punk_! This is _so_ nice of you!"

Standing beside her, Ronon growled softly. "And I was just gonna say happy birthday."

Laughs all around, and Dusty moved deeper into the crowd…

…and smack dab into the welded metal statue of her acting as the centerpiece to the whole party. Her eyes went wide and jaw dropped in shock. Stifled laughs and giggles broke the silence, and Dusty turned a deep puce face to Drake who smiled unashamedly. "Happy Birthday Dusty!"

Dusty took a second to fume, then cracked a smile. "Oh I'm gonna kill you later Dan…"

Unafraid, Drake laughed and turned to the others who now laughed openly. Dusty took this opportunity and jumped him from behind getting him into a headlock.

The crowd gasped at the violence, but Dusty quickly broke the tense moment with her knuckles rubbing Drake's head under her shoulder. "_Noogie!"_

Drake yelped, and jumped around in shock from the strange attack. A moment later Dusty let him go and the two faced off for a moment before Drake cracked a smile. "Aw I'll let ya go this time kiddo. Birthday Girl and all!"

The group laughed, and within moments John over by the bar pulled out his guitar. "Alright, bring out the cake!"

As if Dusty weren't embarrassed enough, now Rafaela came out alongside Mila holding a giant cake Chuck had the Traveler chefs bake for the event. _(It had taken some research to figure out how to make it, but thankfully, one of the things the expedition brought with them originally was over a dozen cookbooks on their computers)_

Strumming his guitar, just about everyone in the room was amazed when a pair of drums suddenly kicked in, Laura Cadman sitting with her hands flying across them giving a nice rock beat.

John's electric guitar suddenly began to sing, and a rock version of "Happy Birthday" left the speakers that had been strategically placed around the room.

Chuck couldn't believe how perfectly it was all falling into place, to his side Alicia and Drake both began to sing

"_Happy birthday to you...!"_

The crowd quickly joined in, with the Travelers in the area looking at cheat sheets Chuck had made of the song for their benefit. The music suddenly kicked up and John really began to rock out on his guitar.

Dusty looked mortified, but seeing the single candle on the cake, seemed appreciative that still no one knew her exact age.

At least that's what Chuck wanted her to think. "Come on! Make a wish!"

Finally calming down her jarred nerves, Dusty took a few deep breaths, and looked around to the smiling group.

With a single breath after closing her eyes, the candle flame winked out of existence.

-------------------**Chapter 5-**-------------------

"Sar…_uhh… I mean_ Dusty."

Chuck was feeling a little buzzed. That Traveler ale that Larrin had brought down really hit the spot, but it felt like he'd just drunken half a bottle of Jaeger "Hey! Colonel Glad you could make it!"

Dusty was a little drunk as well, and turned to laugh at Chuck's behavior, the rest of the party was busy mingling and chatting, a few daring individuals were out dancing to the soft music.

Sam walked up to Dusty and also laughed at Chuck. "Sorry I couldn't make it to the surprise part. I had some stuff to deal with and…"

Feeling suddenly attentive, Dusty straightened her posture and shook her head. "No no no… it's okay Ma-am… I know you're busy and I had _no clue…_" she turned accusing to Chuck. "…that this was going to happen."

Sam chuckled again and stood before Dusty. "Last I hear that's what a surprise party is supposed to do!" She snickered and smiled infectiously. "And please… call me Sam. No honorifics unless it's crunch time."

Chuck couldn't help but notice that Sam herself had almost called Dusty by _her_ rank. He remained silent though as he turned and left both women alone to chat. To the side, he saw Drake whispering sweet nothings to one of the prettier Traveler medics who giggled and playfully slapped at him. _Boy, that kid needs to grow up_.

He saw Marks and Katana going over some clipboard stuff with some of the Travelers who were generally enjoying themselves as well. They'd only been there 5 minutes but seemed to be more interested in chatting than partying. Oh well, at least they showed up.

On the couch ahead of him, John sat with Alicia by his side, Ronon on the opposite couch with Reyna and Esposito all around a table. There was what remained of the cake on the center table along with the deck of cards that had become so popular. "Hey!"

The group acknowledged him and Alicia scootched over closer to John to give Chuck room to sit. Everyone was mildly buzzed, but John and Alicia seemed more drunk any anyone. "Come on Chucky! Deal him in Rey-Rey!"

Reyna rolled her eyes at Alicia's latest nickname for her, and she looked to Chuck. "Wanna play?"

Shrugging, Chuck nodded. "Sure!"

As he sat down, he had a great view of where Daniel, Teyla, Radek and Mila were. They stood around one of the information terminals the Travelers had installed and amicably chatted over some drinks. Teyla held Torren in a pouch and soothed him even as she spoke.

"Texas hold'em… no limit, winner takes a shot."

Chuck turned to John and Alicia at that point, both of them snickering. "Oh so that's why you two are so trashed."

Alicia giggled madly and slapped at Chuck. "I am _not _trashed! I'm… _buzzed_."

John gave a snobby face to Chuck amidst laughs. "Just cuz the cards like me isn't my fault!"

Chuck rolled his eyes and looked at Reyna. "Deal."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Wait wait wait… you _ordered_ a _raccoon_ to ID itself?"

Chuck nodded and sighed. "I was _tired. _I'd been up for 3 days, it was 4 in the morning…The lights were off and I see movement so of course I reacted."

Alicia started laughing uncontrollably and fell sideways onto John's shoulder. The Lieutenant Colonel laughed himself and gave her other shoulder a reassuring rub. "Calm down Leese… Calm down…" He stifled and laugh and bowed his head. "Seriously_… a Raccoon?"_

Admittedly one of his funnier stories from his basic training, Chuck nodded and proudly admitted it. "My first official prisoner of war. We let it go in Algonquin."

The group laughed at the hilarious anecdote, although Alicia seemed to be laughing the most. "Oh shit…that's so funny…_ohhh… oh god…. I can't drink another drop…_"

Chuck snickered at how Alicia sitting beside him swayed back and forth; Dusty had joined in and sat on Ronon's lap with the deck in her hands. "Great, now go away! Let me win for once!"

Alicia giggled and shook her head. "Fine.. consider it your birthday present…" She turned and poked at John with her hand. "Come on… let's go."

John scrunched his brow, he was just as drunk as she was. "What?"

Chuck couldn't help but laugh at the circumstances. Normally, no commanding officer would _ever_ get drunk with a subordinate. Let alone let one poke at him.

The situation was just so different now though… and Chuck warily noticed that John wasn't stopping her. "Come on! Let's dance!"

Everyone at the table was a little surprised, especially John. Chuck watched his face go from stunned, to confused, to finally sheer incredulity. "_Excuse me_?"

Alicia groaned softly and got up tugging him along. "Well they don't want us here winning, _so come on!_ I haven't danced in years."

How the room didn't go silent was a mystery to Chuck. This was the point in the show or movie where the music stops, the party turns and looks at her in disbelief… and yet it wasn't happening.

John groaned once more, then relented. "Alright alright… _one dance."_

The others at the table laughed and bid them fun, Chuck simply remained silent wondering what the hell had just happened.

---------------------------------------------------------

"We need to talk Chuck."

He'd been expecting it, not only that, but he'd been looking forward to it. "Before you say it, I will. We need to stop."

Larrin raised her eyebrows, she was only mildly buzzed as she didn't drink much and was surprised by Chuck's brashness. "Well that's unexpected."

Chuck shrugged, He was used to drinking heavily _(God Bless Canadian Beer and Texas Mickeys) _and was comparatively sober to most of the others _(Except for Daniel's posse who remained quite sober… Sam was in there as well now and they were still chatting about any old thing)_ "Why? We knew this wouldn't last."

Larrin was genuinely surprised she sat down and with a hand on Chuck's thigh she continued. "So… you're okay with this?"

Chuck could tell when a woman was trying to use her wiles to manipulate the situation, So he did the same and put a hand on the space between her neck and shoulder and squeezed gently. "Yeah… yeah I'm okay with that." He smiled, just to drive home the point.

Larrin blinked a few times, then she started chuckling. "You're something else Chuck… You're gonna make some girl a lucky woman someday."

_Hasn't happened yet… _"Maybe."

They laughed a little, and leaning forward Larrin gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "Yeah you will…"

A full-bodied hug and Larrin walked away back towards a group of Travelers.

Chuck sat back and smiled as he looked at the now dwindling party. The music had died down and only soft dance music came out of the stereo. A few couples were still on the dance floor, the most prominent ones though were Ronon and Dusty _(With Dusty leading ot everyone's laughter)_ and John and Alicia.

It was strange… and a few people had given them looks. As far as Chuck knew, John had been having some kind of weird relationship with Carter… and it worked to help morale to a degree… the two leaders working so well together in just about every aspect.

These last few weeks had been different though. They still worked together, but not to the same degree… if this were still a true Air Force operation one of them would have likely been replaced.

There wasn't any hope of that, and without any direct threat to the base… That's why even though when he looked at Sam from across the room and could see her glancing every now and again at John and Vega… along with just about everyone else. He knew that like it or not they'd have to be okay. He didn't suspect any jealousy though, more along the lines of watching her subordinates.

A bad idea crossed Chuck's mind, and he quickly crossed the room and stood on the edge of the dance floor. "Hey Sheppard!"

John turned in his dance, and nodded. "What is it Chuck?"

"Can I borrow your guitar?"

Furrowing his brow a bit, John shrugged. "Sure, just be careful. Only have 3 left on the base."

Alicia muttered something, but Chuck didn't hear it. Instead John started chuckling and spun Alicia around as the song came to a close.

One more addition… Chuck ran over to where Laura had settled into a group with Carson and a few Travelers. "Hey Laura!"

The strawberry blonde turned and smiled at him. "Chuck! Hey, What's up?"

A shrug, and a playful smile. "Wanna jam? Need to clear out the room and I figure a drum and guitar solo might do it."

The deviousness on Laura's smirk grew. "I _like_ the way you think." Laura turned to tell Carson but found him too intrigued with his conversation with Reyna. Shrugging, Laura quickly got up and joined Chuck.

The snickering pair quickly ran over to where the musical instruments were, and set up. Chuck tapped on the microphone and got everyone's attention. "Alright folks… I think it's about time we spread out… soo…"

He opened the instrumental file on his laptop and only played the basics minus the drums and lead guitar. Holding John's guitar in both hands, Chuck began strumming it hard and fast, stunning most of the people in the room. He started playing a very recognizable song _(A fitting one for his situation.)_

On the dance floor, Dusty started cheering and pumping her fist at hearing the song shocking Ronon. Alicia on the other hand groaned and muttered something to John's ear… Within moments, both the Captain and Lieutenant Colonel left the room.

Chuck began to tap his foot to the beat, his body rocking back and forth. Laura started going nuts on the drums as well, obviously she loved this song too.

Ronon was almost shacked beyond words, the way Dusty was grinding/dancing on him now must have embarrassed him but seeing a few of the other earth born humans start to cheer, decided that maybe he needed to have a better talk with Dusty about this.

Chuck hammered out the intro to the song _(He was so glad to have met Jonah Hill in his youth)_, and turning to Laura gave that little nod only musicians knew about before screaming into the Microphone. Little did anyone know that while this song _rocked_, you had to be Canadian to fully _get _it.. _"American Woman…! Stay away from me-eee…!"_

_-------------------------------------------------------_

"So Sylek, what do you think of Earth style parties?"

The young Traveler smiled at Rafaela and chuckled. "Much crazier than ours. Can't really have something like this on a spaceship with limited space."

To her side, Reyna elbowed her to get her attention. "Ella… look!"

The music had kicked up suddenly, and Rafaela watched where Reyna was pointing. Dusty was grinding against Ronon who had suddenly turned a deep puce. Evidently Ronon wasn't accustomed to Earth style 'dancing'. Rafaela was merciless. "Hahaha!"

Sylek himself was a little surprised and tapped Rafaela's shoulder. "_That's _dancing where you come from?"

Rafaela shrugged. "You could say that… actually Colonel Sheppard and Captain Vega were dancing for real… where'd they go?"

To the side, Drake was yet again nearly passed out drunk. "Oh them? Fuckin' lef' whe_'merican w'man_ star'ed playin'… pro'ly gonna humba or som'in'."

Nobody understood what he meant off the bat, but Reyna was able to deduce it and replied in a deadpan double take. "Oh! I think he means they went to have sex."

Rafaela choked on her breath and coughed. "_Excuse me!?_"

Reyna gave her a confused look, and then slapped her forehead and chuckled. "Oh that's right… you people have this weird taboo thing about sex… Sorry, silly me."

Staring at the exit, then to Reyna, then over to Sylek, Rafaela shuddered. "Okay…that's just _messed._"

Sylek nudged her and questioned. "What's the big deal? They look like they're close… what's so strange about that?"

Blushing heavily _(Mainly because she kinda liked this Traveler Security guard and talking about sex was the __last__ thing she wanted now) _Rafaela covered her mouth as she giggled. "_Because_! He's her commanding officer… They might be friends but…" Thinking about it, Rafaela remembered that the soldiers didn't really have any rules anymore. They followed the chain of command simply because the older more experienced soldiers were better leaders. "…well…"

Sylek shook his head idly and leaned back. "I don't get that… I mean… if anything, how do you _not_ get that close to someone you work and fight alongside?"

It was a hard question, and certainly, Rafaela couldn't think of a good answer. "Well… I guess… I guess I'm not really the person to ask. But I doubt that Sheppard and Alicia would ever…" thinking back to how close she'd seen them get over the past 3 months… especially since the gossip was that Sheppard and Carter's _'Complicated' _relationship was over... whatever the hell relationship they had in the first place.

… and she _had_ seen Sheppard and Vega joking around a lot recently. "… I guess it's possible."

Sylek nodded and yawned. "It's nice to see you guys loosening up a bit. Back when we were in Pegasus it was hard to work with you guys sometimes…" He smiled to Rafaela. "Wanna go for a walk? The music's kinda grating on me."

Seeing that just about everyone else was having fun and meeting new people as well as Chuck going crazy on a guitar solo while screaming. "_American Woman! Listen what I say-e-ay-e-ay-e-ay!!!"…_

…Rafaela decided to bend her own rules of engagement. "…Sure. I'd love to."

---------------------------------------------------------

_A/N: The Raccoon story from Chuck's youth is a real story a friend of mine (Ironically named Ori) had during his basic training in the Canadian Reserves. Might be able to pop a few more here and there too :D _

_If any of you see something you feel is off or whatever, feel free to tell me. (Although sometimes there is a method to my madness… I'm setting up things in these first 8 Episodes that'll pay off in the final half of the season)_

_And American Woman? I'm __totally__ seeing Chuck play the "The Guess Who" version and not the Lenny Kravits version. I just totally prefer the original :D LISTEN WHAT I SAY-E-AY-E-AY-E-AY!" *GUITAR SOLO!!!*_

**Teaser for next episode! – (Release on Friday)**

**------------------------------------  
**

**Episode 7 – Near the Fringe**

_115 days in Hoag's Object_

_-------------------------------_

_A/N: This episode is a little different than the previous ones, instead of focus on a single character, the whole team is going to be involved. We'll be bouncing back and forth between characters. _

-------------------------------

**John Sheppard:** _Crazy. This fucker's crazy_

**Alicia Vega:** _Crazy's dangerous, we need to find him _now.

**Samantha Carter:** _Yeah well, 'Crazy' just stole a Jumper so get up here now!_

**Larrin: **_He's got a _name_ you know?_

**Ronon Dex: **_Crazy's a good name._

_-----------------------------_


	7. Near the Fringe

**Episode 7 – Near the Fringe**

_115 days in Hoag's Object_

_-------------------------------_

_**A/N:** This episode is a little different than the previous ones, instead of focus on a single character, the whole team is going to be involved. We'll be bouncing back and forth between characters._

_Oh, Forgot to mention it in the last Chapter. But I have __**TheIceMenace**__ to thank for that little scene with Dusty and Drake and the Noogie! __**TheIceMenace**__ is notorious for them! _

-------------------------------

**John Sheppard:** _Crazy. This fucker's crazy_

**Alicia Vega:** _Crazy's dangerous, we need to find him _now.

**Samantha Carter:** _Yeah well, 'Crazy' just stole a Jumper so get up here now!_

**Larrin: **_He's got a _name_ you know?_

**Ronon Dex: **_Crazy's a good name._

_-----------------------------_

"_We're almost ready to bring power up to 10%... are you ready Doctor?"_

Rafaela watched over the two Travelers as well as Drake who helped them fit the last conduit into place. "One moment Radek."

She looked over to Drake, who wiping some sweat off his brow nodded to her. "We're ready, shouldn't be any shorts this time."

That was the hope at least. The last two times they tried to feed power into this tower they'd had to bring fire crews in. Rafaela was about to tap her headset, but didn't speak as someone she wasn't expecting to see appeared at the end of the hallway. "Sylek! What're you doing here?"

From below, she heard Drake scoff softly and pull himself into the conduit. Granted she'd only been on _one_ official date with Sylek, but with so many gossip channels in the city…

The young Traveler guard smiled and nodded as he seemingly stood guard over the group. "Hey Ella."

"What are you doing here?" She lowered her voice seeing Drake smirking. _"I thought we weren't meeting up till tonight."_

Interrupting the little moment, Radek's voice came in. _"Doctor? Rafaela?"_

Rafaela smiled tersely at Sylek and tapped her headset. "Yes yes Radek. You can bring the power up to 10%... There shouldn't be any problems."

Sylek moved a little closer and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "I wanted to see you, and it's not like I'm all that busy. I'm sure there's something I can do to give you a hand."

A little anxious, but he'd been a real sweetheart last week in explaining Traveler Culture and listening to her as well. This was not the time though. "Sylek… I'll find you later… I'm busy." Sylek grumbled softly, but nodded after a moment and moved off. Rafaela turned to look at him, and felt a little bad for chasing him away. "Wait!" She smiled at him and shrugged a bit. "I'm heading back to the lab in a minute… we can walk together."

His smile grew and he nodded in appreciation. "Alright."

-----------------------------------------------------

John was bored to tears, hearing about some crystal whatchamacallit and how it uses a sort of osmosis to leech minerals and heat energy was mind numbing. Larrin was twiddling her thumbs waiting to hear about how the Hylea came into the picture, and he knew Sam and Marks were just lapping this up. Radek seemed neutral, as did Mila beside him.

Sam poked him and made a face for him to get alert. He sighed and tried to pay attention, but found himself again thinking about all the idiotic drama in his life apart from just staying alive.

The refugees had finished their first crop growing and food was plentiful for the moment. Albeit he didn't like having to be three quarters vegetarian, he knew that if he really wanted to he could take a jumper and go hunting with Ronon and Alicia again.

At the very least, he wasn't uncomfortable around Sam anymore… they weren't watching Futurama anymore or joking around as much, but… _that_… seemed to have blown over for now. Both had fallen back on their professional relationships and he was thankful to be past it.

He paid attention to Daniel ahead of him, focusing on the unnecessarily long words. "…given our analyses and deconstruction of the base matter in the fragments recovered from the planet where the Hylea was downed…" Hmmm… now it was getting interesting. "… Both Carson and Reyna agree… this is not a natural form of life."

Sam spoke up grabbing everyone's attention. "So what exactly are you saying? Someone _built_ those things?"

Carson turned from the screen and shook his head. "No… at least not exactly. The degree of genetic engineering I can see in the DNA structure of the creatures shows only minor but significant adaptations." He turned to Reyna who handed out tablets to each of the sitting command members.

John resisted yawning. He'd been up the majority of the night since he couldn't sleep and decided to do some work on the Daedalus. There wasn't much he was qualified to do though, so he ended up just snagging a 302 and parking it on a covered pier so he could work on it.

Never in his life did he think of actually _owning_ one, but Marks had decided to let him get away with it in exchange for all the help he'd gotten from him.

The tablet contained a lot of information. Some of the things on it he understood, but other aspects he didn't. Deciding that to remain here was likely going to turn into an aneurism, John spoke up. "Listen guys… all this information is great and all, but is there a summarized version somewhere? I got a firearms class with one of the Traveler security groups and I'd rather not be too worried about flying crystals at the moment."

The group was a little surprised at John's reluctance to be here, but they were all feeling the same sense of futility. Daniel nodded gently and summed it up as succinctly as possible using his fingers to list traits. "Immune to Energy weapons, can eat just about anything and grow exponentially, doesn't need oxygen, siphons heat like a heat sink, and the Ancients were the ones to give it a genetic kick start."

A lot less information than normal, but enough for John. "There… was that so hard?" Smiling, He turned and gave everyone a cheerful wave goodbye.

Sam watched him leave, then turned to the others. "Anyone else wanna go?" Nobody nodded, and Sam rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's move on…."

--------------------------------------------------------

"_Sylek! Hahaha… Quit it!"_

Rafaela was so embarrassed. She'd heard that Chuck and Larrin got caught in this exact same situation and didn't want it to happen to her. Then again, Sylek's hand rubbing the small of her back _was_ tantalizing. "Radek can wait a bit… Come on…"

Unfortunately Radek _could not_ wait. Rafaela had already decided that Sylek was being a little too insistent and perhaps she should give him some Earth Courtship lessons. "Sylek… come on…. Radek's waiting for me. "

Still insisting, Sylek's chin nuzzled her as they hugged. "Does it matter? It's not like the city can't wait…"

Feeling a little snarky, Rafaela pushed his exploring hands away and tapped open the door. "But it looks like _you_ can't wait either… Now let me go."

Resisting a bit, Sylek lost some of the smile on his face. "Ella… come on… we've had fun already so why are you holding back?"

A little make out session on a balcony while buzzed after Dusty's party, and then another slightly longer session on their date on the pier was _not_ a good precedent for what was happening now. "Sylek no… Let me go! Radek's waiting…"

"We shouldn't stay here…"

Now Rafaela was scared, Sylek had gone beyond what Rafaela was wiling to accept as an anxious man. _"Let go Sylek!" _

Sylek didn't let go, and instead he pulled her hips closer to his. "Let's get outta here… we can take a Jumper to one of the refugee planets and have a picnic…"

Rafaela wasn't going _anywhere _with Sylek now. "_LET GO PENDEJO!" _Her knee came up and caught Sylek right in the groin doubling him over. She then brought both hands up together and smacked him in the chin snapping his head back.

She burst out from the transporter ready to scream for help, but not even 5 steps out she felt a sudden paralyzing surge run through her body… the same surge she felt when she'd been stunned during the coup almost 4 months ago

----------------------Chapter 2--------------------------

"So you as you can see, these weapons are very ergonomic. We've only got a limited supply of them though so be careful in handling them."

The latest group of Travelers in training, 11 of them in total, took hold of an P90 each and examined the weapon they had just learned about.

The weapons range on Atlantis was a little shorter than John had originally hoped, but it was the only compromise area big enough and away from any habited areas. Since the almost thousand strong Traveler force along with about 200 refugees from minor industrial Pegasus worlds had decided to stay, it was getting harder and harder to remain elusive.

One of the trainees, an older security captain named Nevas, waved John over. "Sheppard… Why do we have to learn to use these weapons when our own Particle Weapon technology surpasses it?"

John nodded to the question and raised his voice. "Alright folks! Nevas just asked a good question. Why even bother with these guns since we can reproduce your particle guns?" He nodded over to Alicia who was guarding the crates of weapons they'd brought. "Leese, P90 and a ?"

Alicia smirked at the newest vernacular for the Traveler weapon. She quickly cleared the chamber of the P90 and handed both it and a clip to John. Moment's later she did the same with a Particle Magnum. "There ya go."

Nevas noticed an easiness between the two. If the rumors were to be believed… "Alright… so you're going to compare the two?"

John nodded and waved the class to follow him to the actual range. "Alright. Listen up. Nevas isn't wrong. Your weapons are damn cool and serve a great purpose." He turned to the range and called out. "! Firing 5! Fire in the hole!"

The Travelers watched as John fired 5 successive rounds down range to where a concrete pad had been installed. The medium level shots created puffs of concrete dust on impact, but didn't penetrate too much.

John set the gun down on the range table and began to load the P90. "Pretty good huh? I think so. Buuuut…"

Loading the P90 and racking the first bullet, John tapped his ears signaling to put their earplugs on.

Waiting a second, and then putting on his own earmuffs, the Travelers heard a muffled cry of "P90! 50 Rounds! Fire in the Hole!"

In the same amount of time John had fired 5 of the Particle Magnum shots, 50 of the specially shaped 5.7mm rounds flew downrange and tore chunks and divots out of the concrete. The damage itself was obscured from the cloud of dust now wafting towards them on the range.

Ejecting the clip, John handed the weapons back to Alicia and nodded politely "Alright, which did more damage?"

One of the younger Travelers scoffed. "That only works since you shot 10 times the rounds. If you shot that many Particle shots on overload…."

John, whose smile was a mile wide, snorted back. "And stand here for almost a minute? I just sent 50 rounds downrange in the same time it takes your weapons to shoot 5. Power is good, but speed and suppressive fire can be better."

The class continued, and both Air Force officers helped the Travelers to understand and use the weapons to a greater ability. Normally Cadman would have helped as well, but she was currently on the mainland helping the Travelers set up a landing pad next to the Ancient Outpost that was still under final repairs. It wasn't until almost half an hour later that Sam's voice came over the headset he wore.

"_Sheppard this is Carter, Come in."_

John didn't hesitate. It had been a month since the _'Mornin' Jack'_ fiasco and he'd forced himself to forget about it. He was still ashamed that he'd broken down in front of Larrin and he still wasn't sure exactly how that happened.

No matter. All he cared about now was Atlantis's survival and defense. "This is Sheppard. What's up?"

"_We need you and the Traveler team you're teaching on duty. Dr Esposito has gone missing."_

John tensed; A million possibilities went through his head and most seemed impossible. "How long?"

"_Approximately 20 minutes. Radek was waiting for her and she never showed. She's not answering her radio either."_

"Can't you use the city's sensors to find her?"

"_A lot of the towers are offline for maintenance. Radek says she would have been in them doing repairs."_

Damn… "Where do you want us?"

"_Coordinate with Larrin, she's leading a team to the West Pier. Carter out."_

To the point… just like almost every conversation he had with Sam now. The last joke he made had only brought a small smile to her face… referencing a joke in Futurama about Bender being chased by a flying toaster and the Windows logo he knew she loved…

Again. It didn't matter. Life went on.

John looked over at Alicia and with a motion of his head called her over. He shut the outbound radio transmission and screamed. "Attention!" The Travelers quickly made their weapons safe and turned to face him. Larrin had told each of these men to listen to him as if he were the blonde Traveler herself. "We've got a situation… Dr Esposito has gone missing in the city and she's not responding to any hails. It's been 20 minutes."

Alicia tensed as well and cocked her head. "Any leads?"

John shook his head. "None. So we're breaking out the Magnums . Keep em on stun… get armed up!"

The Travelers had taken the Air Force style training well and quickly armed up. Alicia handed John the same Magnum he used before and strapped one to the holster on her hip. "Where to, John?"

John froze for a second… his instinct was to tell her to call him Colonel or Sheppard… 'John' was buried right now… But Alicia had basically become his new right hand… and he needed to maintain that level of trust. "Gimme a second." He tapped his headset to wide channel mode. "This is _Sheppard _to Larrin please come in." He hoped that emphasizing the 'Sheppard' would subconsciously tell Alicia to keep professional.

Larrin's voice came in a second later. "_Larrin here, I'm on the west pier. Big'an'bad's got a team searching the inner towers and all my security teams are on alert. Where are you?"_

"Southeast pier. We're on the firing range."

"_Split up in teams of two and spread around, head towards the east and we'll catch up from the north towers."_

John took a second to mentally see the paths, and resisted chuckling that the west pier was actually facing north now, but for convenience was still called the West pier. "Copy."

The Travelers assembled, each with Particle magnums attached at the hip. John nodded and pointed them out. "Alright, turn your radios to squad com so you can hear the other teams. Pair up, split up, and head east. Vega…" He turned to the Captain who narrowed her eyes in preparation. "…You're with me."

Alicia ignored the soft involuntary noises from behind her. Ever since Dusty's birthday, she'd had to suffer listening to those around her whisper. But she _certainly_ was not going to change her modus operandi over just gossip. "Yes sir."

----------------------------------------------------------

Rafaela came to consciousness and felt the cold floor beneath her. When she tried to move her hands, she found them together and stuck behind her.

It took a second to realize it, but her wrists had been tied together. She immediately tried to get up, but hearing a weapon charge up stopped.

She froze, and looked around using only her eyes. She was in one of the storage rooms in the main tower. Relatively close to the jumper bay actually.. Rafaela took a few breaths and then ventured to turn around. "Sylek…?"

The Traveler Security guard looked almost panicked, Sweat was dripping down his forehead as he worked on the control panel to the to door leading to the Jumper Bay. In one hand he shakily held his Particle Magnum. "El… Ella…"

"What are you doing?! Why are you doing this to me?"

Sylek started chuckling, and finally he yanked out a crystal. The door finally opened and Sylek seemed pleased. "We're leaving…"

Rafaela didn't want to go _anywhere_ with Sylek EVER. "What do you mean? Untie me!"

She started to get up again but the gun's safety flicked off. "I don't want to carry you… but I will if I have to… I have to get us outta here…" His tone was desperate, almost…

"Sylek… why are you doing this? This is crazy!"

The man pulled the gun to the side and fired once, the red energy spread along the floor and a bit washed over Rafaela's legs. She instantly lost the feeling in them and fell back onto the floor like a flopping fish. She screamed in horror. "_Ah! I… I can't feel my legs!"_

Sylek holstered his gun, and walked over to her. "It'll pass… just… just stay calm…"

Calm was nowhere near what Rafaela was, especially since Sylek's hands were now wrapping around her and picking her up. The fact that no one could hear her screams grated on her like nothing before.

-----------------------Chapter 3-----------------------

"Sylek?" Ronon couldn't believe it. He'd run into Drake and the man's information seemed too bad to be true.

Drake nodded and looked to Ronon and Dusty. "Guess I'm the last one to see her except for him… and he's not picking up his radio either."

Ronon growled and tapped his headset. "Sheppard… Get to Tower C-6 right now! We can't find Sylek from Traveler Security either and he's the last one to see Esposito."

A moment passed, and John replied over the radio. _"On our way. Be there in two."_

Ronon turned to Dusty and rocked his head towards the transporter. He tapped Drake on the shoulder and the three of them began their run to the Transporter.

----------------------------------------------------------

Rafaela resisted crying, she had the distinct feeling that to do so would only aggravate the situation. Radek must have told someone to look for her now… Drake was the last one to see her and he'd say that Sylek was there… they were coming for her… _they were coming for her._

A noise from outside got her attention and she wished the feeling in her legs would come back quicker. She cursed internally as it was just Sylek holding a large bag. "Supplies… we're heading to a cave I saw when I helped one of the Refugee villages move there. They're nice people… quiet… not violent at all."

Rafaela simply kept quiet now, she prayed that her friends would come find her. Though even more she wished that her legs weren't as useless as they were right now because she could have probably sabotaged the Jumper so Sylek would have even less of the element of surprise.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Sensors? Is he in there?"

Sam's voice came through clearly. _"Can't tell, sensors are down in that tower… still under repairs."_

John cursed softly and looked to the team assembled in the hallway. Getting a life signs detector would take too long. "Alright… we need to move fast. Breach procedures, Vega you take point and wait for my signal." He looked to Drake and Dusty. "Take the opposite side." He then turned to Ronon and nodded. "Cover us."

Unsure of what "cover us" meant in this case, Ronon simply stood near the front of the door to the side as the team assembled in front of him. The few Traveler Security guards joined in as well and covered them from all sides.

Alicia pulled a flash bang from her vest and pulled the pin but held the clip in place. She focused on the door and only the door, one hand above the open switch.

John stood behind her with his Particle Magnum at the ready. He gave everyone a quick cursory check and tapped his headset. "Sam, override the lock on the door."

"_One second…"_

John gave her that second and more. When he heard Sam call out "Go!" on his headset, he gave Vega the signal to throw.

Ronon froze for a half second when he saw John reach down and give Vega's lower rear right thigh a squeeze, but seeing as she thought nothing of it and simply opened the door to commence the breach, pushed it out of his mind.

The bang resonated for a second and Alicia was the first one in, she quickly scanned the room and called out clear.

The others followed suit, each one moving to the ends of the room and securing it. John opened the washroom and seeing no one in there cursed. "Dammit! He's not here!"

Alicia's voice came through the squad radio. Her tone shocked. _"Guys… Bedroom…_ now."

The group quickly assembled in the dark bedroom, and turning on the light they all gave gasps of surprise.

A pair of what could only be described as shrines lay assembled on the wall opposite the bed. A picture of Rafaela on one, and another young woman on the other who had a surprising resemblance to Rafaela.

Each shrine was decorated lavishly and almost tenderly. Candles and what appeared to be personal items adorned each, where he'd gotten them was a mystery.

Alicia knelt down to Rafaela's shrine and moved what appeared to be one of her shirts. She then picked up a lock of long brown hair, lovingly braided and with a little bow at the top. "Creepy."

Dusty on the other hand lifted what appeared to be a necklace of baby teeth on the other shrine, and then dropped it realizing what it was. She shuddered distastefully. "_Ooohhh… _that's _sooo_ not right."

Drake opened a small basket off to the side and instantly shirked back. "_Eugh…._ You haven't seen the half of it."

John looked around and heard the base's alarm start to go off, he knew instantly that things were about to get a lot worse. "Crazy… this fucker's crazy…"

Alicia tensed as well and ground her teeth. "Crazy's dangerous… we need to find him _now."_

John nodded and motioned with his head for them all to move out. He winced on last time at looking to the shrine and as he stepped out Sam's voice came through the radio again. "_Yeah well… Crazy just stole a Jumper so get up here now!"_

Panic entered John's throat, but before he could say anything Larrin's voice squawked through. "_He has a _name_ you know."_

Understandable…Larrin didn't want her people to suddenly get a bad reputation.

Unfortunately, Ronon just muttered as he took up his position by John. "Crazy's a good name."

As much as John wanted to agree, Larrin's growl of irritation was something he'd have to work out later.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"_No… no-no-no… this…this can't be right…!"_

Rafaela had gotten most of the feeling back in her legs, with her hands still tied though, it was difficult to try and get up. Sylek's panicky muttering as they moved away from the gate only made things worse.

They had to know now… Atlantis would come after her… they' d stop this insane man and rescue her… she knew it… she knew it… _just why didn't they hurry up and do it already!?_

"_This… this has to be the wrong planet… I misdialed… it __has__ to be!"_

Now even more panicked, Rafaela managed to limp with her shaky legs to the doorway between the front and aft section. Were her hands tied in front, she would have gladly smacked some sense into Sylek with a technique Ronon had taught her.

Instead, she too was stunned… the view out the window was literally bone-chilling… Sylek turned to her, the sensors on the HUD screaming an incoming warning as a Staticy blip neared them at high speed. _'I… I'm so sorry Ella…"_

Rafaela couldn't say anything, only stare out the window into the ice storm.

------------------------Chapter 4--------------------------

"_He gated to H48-7K4. There's no way we'd be able to get a ship that far anytime soon."_

John figured as much, and with his team at his heels, he quickly came to the same conclusion that Sam must have as well. "We're going after him!"

"_Take whatever you need! Get her back John!"_

Every member of the group got the underlying tone of Sam's words. They _had_ to rescue her.

John led the team to the Jumper bay, and nearly walked into the door when it didn't open. "The hell?" John tapped the control pad but it was dead. "_Crap_… Sam? I think he disabled the door to the Jumper Bay… can you override it?"

Ronon was in no mood to wait. "Just blow it open!"

Holding his hand up, John stopped Ronon from doing just that. "Last resort."

"_John, he's disconnected the door from the network, I can't do anything from here."_

John winced at Sam's words and could think of only one more option. Ronon could too as his gun rose. _"Wait wait!"_ John held his other hand now stopping Ronon again. He then tapped his headset and muttered. "Major Marks, please come in."

No sooner had he finished speaking that a bright flash of white light enveloped the group, and the next thing they knew they'd appeared in the middle of the jumper bay. Marks' voice came through the radio almost cheerfully, "_You can thank me later. Now go!"_

John complied as he tapped open the jumper and thanked god Marks always kept his radio on.

--------------------------------------------------------

Rafaela groaned softly and tried to think of the many ways she could be hurt, broken, or even dead at the moment.

Through some kind of sheer luck though, whatever had hit the Jumper only knocked it around. Sylek had still been able to crash land the Jumper near the gate.

That explained the blinding headache and the searing ass pain. It didn't explain the cold however.

Finally opening her eyes, Rafaela found that her hands were still bound, but her legs felt much better. Sylek was on the dashboard, his breathing erratic and his eyes like saucers. His muttering was nearly incoherent as blood seeped down the side of his face.

The wind was getting into the Jumper through the broken forward hatch.

Rafaela took a few deep breathes, then snapped at him. "Sylek! Untie me! Let me go! _Please!"_

The man was near catatonic, but hearing a loud groan outside nodded a few times. "Yeah… yeah yeah…"

He pulled out a knife, and took a hold of Rafaela's hands. She could see the gate and DHD about a hundred feet away and even in this cold she thought she could make it… just needed…

The knife cut through the rope quickly, and Rafaela acted instantly, Her palm went up and snapped Sylek's head back stunning him momentarily. She quickly grabbed one of the P90s in the equipment netting and held it at him. "_You bastard! _ _Why'd you do this!?"_

Sylek recovered and panted hard. The tears streaking down his face did nothing to wash away his guilt. _"The monsters… they're coming…"_

Unsure of what he was babbling about, Rafaela resisted flicking the safety off the weapon. "Monsters? What are you talking about!?"

"They killed them… _they ate them…_ we need to hide… we're not safe…"

Now completely convinced that Sylek had gone insane. Rafaela decided to leave him to whatever he decided his fate to be. "I'm going back to Atlantis… don't try and…."

A loud groaning outside suddenly froze her words, and Sylek began to scream in terror. Ironically, Rafaela had such an adrenaline rush that she was able to watch in full detail as the roof of the Jumper suddenly ripped apart like a can of sardines.

It wasn't enough to allow her to shoot though, and the giant insect like monster on top of the jumper hissed as if venting steam.

----------------------------------------------------------

"_I'll hit the Jumper if I shoot!"_

Panic entered John's mind as he saw the scene unfolding below. As if going face first into an ice storm wasn't enough of a surprise, hearing Rafaela and Sylek screaming over the radio all of a sudden, _and then_ seeing a giant insect thing on top of the Jumper was just the icing on the cake. _"Then get down there!"_

Ronon's screaming only exacerbated the problem that was already serious; a Drone would certainly end whatever the hell that thing was, but it was literally inside the Jumper and the shot would likely kill the occupants inside as well.

That left only one option. "_Hard Landing!"_

Ronon didn't get it but he didn't need to. The Jumper spun around in the air and began a quick descent to give the team behind him a chance to jump out. They'd survive a few minutes in their gear in this cold, but it would have to be fast.

The Creature was roughly bee shaped with three large bulbous sections. Two large and dangerously sharp forelimbs pecked at the sides of the Jumper tearing the material apart as if it were ice cream.

John watched ahead as a red bolt suddenly flew up from the front of the jumper and connected with the creature. It remained unaffected even as the energy spread along its body. That's when John recognized the long sharp spikes it used for forearms… and was glad he'd gotten Daniel to summarize the briefing earlier that day._ "Bullets Bullets! Use Bullets!" _He hoped the team understood.

Another shot came out from beside the Jumper this time, and John could swear he saw someone running along the side of the Jumper. The Creature again winced at the hit, but this time it paid more attention.

An appendage of some sort came out of the top of it, and what looked like a concentrated beam of what looked like…_dusty_ _wind…_ blew out… or rather sucked in towards the man running away from the broken front of the ship.

John didn't pay attention though, and flipped the Jumper around to give his team a perfect vantage point. _"Kill that thing!"_

The aft hatch blew open, and John winced hearing 4 Automatic weapons open fire. The Jumper finally landed on the ground, and John turned in his seat to see the team running out and firing. The Creature hissed loudly now, each bullet tearing just a little of the hardened shell off.

John saw that they needed something with a little more _oomph_, so instead of grabbing the rifle in the netting, he yanked the large case from the side of the aft wall of the jumper to the ground. The AT-4-CS inside perfect for what John had in mind.

Ronon led the charge, bullying the rifle into accuracy aiming for what he assumed to be the face. Bullets pinged off and flecks as well as chunks of the creature fell off leaving a pockmarked texture to the main body

The others spread out and hosed it down with suppressive bursts. The creature seemed to be taking damage, but it now took a step closer to them almost as if enraged, any pain it might have felt ignored.

John kicked open the AT-4-CS case, the launcher inside only weighed about 15 kilograms. He hefted it onto his shoulder and aimed…

The creature was moving the same appendage it did before… it was moving towards his team…

'_Safety one off…."_

A well-aimed burst from Dusty smacked that wind-generating appendage around drawing a loud groan from the creature.

"…_Safety two off…"_

The Creature seemed to sense the danger it was in and jumped up into the air, instead of falling back down though, it began to hover from what looked like thruster tentacles around its bottom.

"…_pull the pin and…"_

The 15 odd kilograms John held in his hand suddenly vanished as the recoilless 84mm rocket spat out of the rear of the Jumper and slammed into the slowly rising creature. The blast from the shaped HEAT charge tore through its exoskeleton and tore a large chunk out of it. Thick goop spilled out like blood and the creature gave a horrible screech as it fell to the ground throwing up a dust cloud of snow as it skidded to a halt.

The Team didn't hesitate though and John was grateful for it. He tossed the spent launcher onto the ground and rushed out into the cold.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Rafaela was too stunned to speak, she merely accepted Ronon's hand and was surprised when he pulled her close. _"Rafaela!"_

He was cold… _Everything_ was cold. It took her a few seconds to finally recognize that they'd come for her and that rescue was mere meters away.

Drake and Alicia were off to the side and unloaded the rest of their clips into the creature still hissing and flopping on the floor. Her shivering lessened as Dusty covered her with her own vest. It took a second to realize it but her skin had gone clammy and beginning to turn blue. The temperature was easily -40 in both Celsius _and_ Fahrenheit, and without heavy clothing, they couldn't stay here.

John ran out of the Jumper and started screaming. _"Let's go let's go! We can't stay here!"_

Drake and Alicia could barely hear him, but they acknowledged the order and fell back, the broken creature still in its assumed death throes.

John ran off towards the side where he'd seen who he assumed was Sylek running, he stopped suddenly when he spotted something, stood there for a second, then ran back to the Jumper where the others were loading up.

Rafaela was shivering and the entire team huddled around each other sharing body heat. John moved past them and bit away the chill as he sat down and closed the hatch.

He felt oddly appreciative as the Jumper took off, and he felt Alicia throw an extra vest around him as she sidled up and looped an arm around him. "_Sylek_?"

John kept his eyes forward and simplified what he'd seen as he put his own arm around her. "He didn't make it."

-------------------------Chapter 5--------------------------

"Uhh… okay… _this is new._" Sam mentally agreed with Larrin's musing and could hardly believe her eyes. When the Jumper came in coated with snow it was odd enough; to then see the team came out shivering and huddled together made her do a mental double take.

Rafaela was in the midst remaining silent, and Carson and Reyna along with their rapid response team quickly began to examine her.

Sam moved forward with Larrin right beside her. "What happened?"

John shivered slightly and muttered. _"Cooold."_

"I gathered that." Larrin screwed her face looking at the team in relatively light clothing huddle together, and now pull the blankets the medical team draped over them tighter.

John nodded now feeling much better. "Something's going on on that planet… Whole area around the gate is ice storm…"

Alicia right next to John nodded as well. "There was this big… _creature_ thing… looked almost crystalline. It brought down Sylek's Jumper and tore it apart."

Ronon growled even as he wiped snow out of his dreadlocks. "Took all 5 of us to take it down… thing soaked up bullets and energy weapons did jack."

Drake wiped his face down and helped Dusty get some more snow out of her hair. "Took an AT-4 and didn't die…

Sam's eyes grew wide, and she recalled what Daniel and Carson had explained in the briefing. She looked to John and could see the recognition in his eyes as well. "… Alright… get yourselves checked out. We might have to leave the Jumper on that planet if it's that bad."

Larrin butted in now, feeling a bit left out. "Hey wait! What happened to Sylek?!"

Rafaela winced and turned her head. She wasn't crying but it was obvious she was still in severe shock. Her wet hair matted to her face obscuring it. John sighed and replied for her. "He uhh… we were too late."

Sam could see that whatever happened they were reluctant to speak about it. With simple eye motions and facial tics, she and John communicated that they'd speak later. Sam then turned to the others and nodded. "Go. Debriefing can wait till you're all okay." She looked to Ronon and handed him a napkin she always kept in her pocket. "Maybe a shower too."

Ronon growled and used the napkin to strain out his hair. "_Thanks_."

--------------------------------------------------------

Rafaela was still feeling the aftereffects of shock. She was dizzy, nauseous, even a little giddy. The fact that she'd very nearly died seemed to resonate strongly in her speech, simply saying what came to mind without filtering.

She had been in the bed with an extra blanket and a heater next to her, keeping warm after being exposed to the cold. It hadn't done any _real_ damage but it was more for her comfort than anything else.

"_Whew… hot in here."_

Rafaela had taken to listening to as much music from earth as possible in the past few months. She had even grown to like music she formerly detested. "So take off all your clothes?"

Dusty raised her eyebrows in shock as she closed the curtain behind her. "Uhh…" it took her a second to get the reference, but she snickered none the less. "Well I am _not_ getting so hot that I wanna take my clothes off."

The scientist snickered and sighed. "Good because then I would have asked you to leave."

The two women shared a quick laugh, and Dusty gave her a little shove. "So how you hangin'?"

Rafaela shrugged and deadpanned. "Pretty good considering I got stunned twice, kidnapped, survived a jumper crash and then nearly got eaten by a giant rock."

Saying it was obvious she was not okay was an understatement. "Right… Uhh… Sorry we didn't get to you sooner."

A shrug, the shock was still prevalent and the crying wouldn't come till later when she was alone and trying to sleep. "S'okay… I'm okay… he's dead."

Dusty groaned softly and sat down on the chair next to the bed. "Aw, you're not serious… you're just saying that."

"Yeah… yeah I am… I'm still not sorry he's dead though."

Dusty nodded and patted Rafaela's shoulder. "Neither am I."

-------------------------------------------------------

"_Frozen?_"

Larrin's voice was incredulous, John was giving his report on what happened and had just described Sylek's fate. "Don't know how it happened so fast, but he was frozen mid-stride. His gun was even pointing in the air at the creature."

Sam was shocked as well. "So it had a… _freeze ray?"_

John shrugged hesitantly, the image still disturbing him. "I guess you could call it that. Looked like some kind of super powered vacuum to be honest."

Larrin growled softly and clenched her fist on the table. "Interesting how he's the only one who died. "

John was a little angered by Larrin's words and retorted. "Yeah well none of _my_ people kidnapped someone and ran off. And the village there had 73 people who we've had to list MIA!"

Sam could see that the tension between these two persons was going to end up as a fist fight _(Again)_ , and held her hands up. "Enough!" She sighed and shook her head idly. "I had security do a check on the pictures we found in his room… the other woman turned out to be his sister." Larrin suddenly receded a bit, almost as if she already knew and was hoping to keep it a secret. Sam didn't miss it though and looked at her. "You knew…"

Larrin cracked her jaw and then nodded. "Yeah… yeah I knew he lost his sister… she was the head security officer on the Hylea…. She stayed with the Captain to hold off those things last month."

John shook his head idly. "If it was the same kind of creature… particle magnums wouldn't have done them any good." John sighed and looked away from Sam and Larrin. "Sylek… I think he led the creature away from Esposito… he wasn't running towards the Stargate."

It took a few seconds of silence before Larrin replied, her voice quiet despite them being in the soundproofed glass office. "He was depressed when the Hylea went down… in fact a lot of my people are… some are starting to act out and well… my security can handle it but…"

Both Sam and John were bewildered. Sam put it into words though. "What _kind_ of acting out? You're talking criminal activity?"

Larrin groaned and nodded. "I've gotten reports of theft, a few minor and moderate assaults…" She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. "_…one attempted rape."_

The shock was intense, and John ran his hand through his hair. "Wha… why the hell haven't we heard of this?"

"Because I've been keeping it quiet!" Larrin snarled back angrily. "Because I don't want it spreading that some of my people are so depressed and on edge that they're acting out!"

Sam bowed her head and rubbed her temples in annoyance. "…It doesn't matter Larrin… _my_ people might be in charge, but yours make up the most of the city… I'm _not_ angry at you for burying it…" she turned to Larrin. "I _am_ angry that we didn't hear about this till_ after_ one of my people was affected."

Larrin was torn between anger and guilt. "… I'm sorry. But you're right. My people aren't used to this place yet and it's been happening a lot longer than you two think. We've just kept it quiet because I don't want a panic spreading."

Neither Air Force Officer could fault her, it was a good reason and up until today, a _Traveler_ problem. John muttered as he leaned on the chair in front of him. "How've you been dealing with it?"

Larrin shrugged. "I don't think you wanna know."

"Humor me… what would you have done to Sylek if we'd brought him back?"

Sam turned to look at Larrin, the Traveler woman tensed her face and after a moment saw that both John and Sam wanted to know. "Kidnapping… stealing a Jumper… I'd have spaced his ass."

Nobody spoke, the realization of what had been going on around them stunned just as much as a wraith stunner would have. It was almost 10 seconds before Sam continued. "…How many people have you executed?"

Larrin's words were surprisingly reassuring. "None… we've been using the 3 ships we have left docked as brigs. The violent crimes get… _disciplined. _Nothing as serious as Sylek has happened… yet."

John and Sam looked to each other and both agreed with their eyes. John flexed his arms as he gripped the chair and muttered. "…_Disciplined? _What _kind_ of Discipline?"

Sam added to his question. "We want to know it _all_. No more secrets Larrin… if we're going to survive and live together we need to know it _all."_

Larrin clenched her jaw, and after a moment nodded. "Alright…"

--------------------------------------------------------

"What about Ryloh?"

Kevin sighed and looked at the file he had on the Traveler in training. "Might be a good technician… but I'm not sure he's got the experience with our technology to be chief though."

Katana sighed back and rubbed her forehead. "Well it's not like we're drowning in people who do."

Shrugging, Kevin tapped his tablet to the main folder. "Chuck's agreed to pilot till someone learns to use the controls properly. I wanted Esposito to help with Engineering but she's in no condition to do it now." Kevin rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed again. "Figures… The ship's a few weeks out from taking off and we can't find a damn crew."

Katana snickered and got up out of her seat. "Come on… you owe me dinner anyway."

Kevin cocked his head and felt a bit better as Katana pulled him up by his shoulder. "There is that…"

--------------------------------------------------------------

**Teaser for Next Episode (Release next Friday (I.E. A Week)…**_** possibly **_**sooner)**

**Episode 8 – Mystery in a Far Off Land.**

128 days in Hoag's Object

-------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell: **_Tinman…_

**Katana LaBrea:** _Excuse me?_

**Chuck Campbell:** _From Star Trek the Next Generation. It was a life form that lived in space and could serve as a ship for people._

**Dan Drake:** _That's__ what you think that thing is?_

**Chuck Campbell: **_Well… maybe not exactly but look at it! Weapons to Maximum?_

**Kevin Marks: **_Eugh… you're not related to Cameron Mitchell are you Chuck?_

----------------------------


	8. Mystery in a Far Off Land

**Episode 8 – Mystery in a Far Off Land.**

128 days in Hoag's Object

------------------------------

**A/N:** I've gotten some opinions that i should perhaps update more frequently, but with smaller chapters (so instead of releasing an episode every 7 days, release 5 chapters in a week to make up that episode)

I wanted to avoid the millions of chapters in this fic, but if y'all would rather it that way, please mention it either in a PM or a review.

-------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell: **_Tinman…_

**Katana LaBrea:** _Excuse me?_

**Chuck Campbell:** _From Star Trek the Next Generation. It was a life form that lived in space and could serve as a ship for people._

**Dan Drake:** _That's__ what you think that thing is?_

**Chuck Campbell: **_Well… maybe not exactly but look at it! Full power to Weapons?_

**Kevin Marks: **_Eugh… you're not related to Cam Mitchell are you Chuck?_

----------------------------

Kevin was always one to sleep light, you had to when you spent the majority of the last 5 years living in space on a Battle Carrier. As Second in Command of Daedalus, most ship wide responsibilities came to him… not Caldwell.

He could still clearly remember times that Lindsay Novak would chase him down instead of Caldwell for permission to do something to the engines or weapons or whatever. It had gotten to the point where they'd started to become friends whether they liked it or not.

So seeing as he was a light sleeper, having this heavy weight on his eyelids and a strange soreness over his body made him question exactly what happened last night.

He finally managed to open one eyelid, and across from the sheets lay Katana…. And it didn't look like she was wearing anything beyond the bed sheets.

Moving a little Kevin realized he was in the same state of undress.

Oh… _that_ happened. Oh well.

Kevin thought about getting up for a second, maybe feeling awkward or even distressed, but it's not like this wasn't something he'd kind of been expecting to happen.

Besides, _Katana_ was the one to suggest celebrating the completion of repairs to the Daedalus with a bottle of Traveler Ale…. _Right_?

--------------------------------------------------------

"Marks…" John muttered as he graded the latest tests on his and Ronon's obstacle course. He did a slight double take at seeing the man in Traveler Clothing and looking like hell warmed over. "….Dude… you look like you just got back from Tijuana."

Marks shrugged and sat down opposite from John. It wasn't often either of them were in this office, but Marks had a request to table. "Don't even wanna talk about it..."

John chuckled. Marks knew he wasn't often a funny man and the others were… _intimidated_ by him. But it was mainly because he'd spent so much time working on Daedalus to care about…._social _activities. "Ohh? So I can assume you and uhh…?"

"If you'll stop the interrogation there… yes… yes you can."

Continuing his chuckles, John shook his head idly and leaned back to his a smaller table that was obscured behind him. "Coffee?"

Marks's eyes went wide. "You _still_ have coffee? I ran out 2 months ago!"

An innocent shrug, and John pulled the pot out. "Some of the Travelers knew about plants and stuff. Maybe not Katie Brown but they can grow stuff. Good thing we had plenty of seeds from the botany labs." He poured a pair of mugs and handed one to Marks along with a plate with powdered creamer and sugar. "Enjoy."

Too entranced by the prospect of fresh coffee. Marks forgot about his request momentarily. He quickly added a little creamer and sugar and toasted the return of the caffeine strong drink.

Both men took a few sips, and found it to be a little nostalgia from home… Marks was imagining having to requisition an extra 30 pounds of the stuff when John interrupted his thought process. "I'm guessing you didn't visit just to try out the new coffee.

Reminded, Marks nodded and set the cup down. "Yeah… yes. I uhh I've kept it a bit on the down low, but Daedalus is ready to take off."

John raised his brows in elated surprise. "Really? That's great but… why are you keeping it on the down low?"

"Well… We don't have a proper crew yet. Simulations are one thing, but I don't trust any of the Traveler crew apart from two or three to properly run the ship."

John finally understood. "Ahh… I getcha. You want some of _us_ there?"

Marks nodded and sighed. "Yeah… make me a lot more comfortable going out there especially after what happened to the Hylea."

Both men were silent a moment, both reverent of the implications. "I'm really not the one to talk to… Larrin and Sam are.."

"I already talked to them." Marks just spat it out, he was here for a slightly different reason. "I've got Chuck as my weapons officer and pilot, Esposito's gonna take care of engineering, and Drake's offered to handle Ops. All temporary till I can replace them with Katana's old crew."

John shrugged around thinking about it. "Well… with a Traveler crew… I think you'd be okay there."

"You're right… but there's… a snag."

In military terms, a snag was something unexpected and unprepared for. A snag was much worse than an expected problem. "Okay… what is it?"

Marks sighed and took another sip before stating his request. "Esposito doesn't want to go unless she has a guard… she's still a little…"

John held his hand up and shook his head. "Say no more… don't worry." He tapped his headset and called out. "Captain Vega please come in."

Relief washed over Marks; Esposito knew about these earth-based systems and would expedite things once they were in space. "Thanks John… this means a lot to me."

A nod was his response, and John's headset squawked softly. Marks couldn't make it out, but John's side was interesting. "Leese, you mind coming to my office for a minute?... Yeah Tower A-2… Yes… No… _no no no_… Listen, just come, I've gotta see you and I wanna tell you privately."

Marks tried to hide his smile. Even in his fortress of solitude, he'd heard the rumors… hell he'd heard the _first_ rumors a few weeks after arriving about John and his… _social_ activities.

John shut the link off and looked to Marks. His face instantly frowned. "What?"

A shrug, and an attempt to hide the smile. "Nothing." It was strangely nice to get back at John for his prior question.

Marks almost burst out laughing when John bowed his head and tugged on his hair. "Ugh… you'd think this place is high school." It was too much and Marks started to chuckle. John groaned dejectedly "Yeah yeah… believe whatever you want… _I _know the truth."

"Which is?" Marks smiled with a shit eating grin. Honestly he didn't care if John slept with the entire base, as long as he did his job and kept the base organized and safe Marks didn't think it really mattered anymore

Of course, if they were still in Pegasus or Milky Way, it would be different seeing as they weren't alone. "_Which is…_" John began. "…that my _social_ _life_ is nobody's business but mine." John cocked his head hearing someone in the hallway. "And my working relationship with my second in command is the same."

Marks could appreciate that. Privacy was getting harder and harder to get. Thankfully, nobody ever went onto the Daedalus without a good reason. "Fair enough, just wanted a little quid pro quo you know?"

John groaned as the door opened again, and Alicia's features seemed to suddenly brighten. "… Is that… _Coffee_ I smell?"

-------------------------------------

Marks had to admit, despite it not being official; this was one of the prouder moments of his life. "Thank you Ma-am."

Sam smiled and finished attaching the pins to his collar. "It's an honor to serve with you Lieutenant Colonel, and I know you'll take _very_ good care of the Daedalus."

The small crowd that had gathered to rechristen the Daedalus clapped and cheered. Marks had finally gotten the crew he wanted and was shocked when Sam, Larrin and John had gotten this ceremony together.

It was another of those 'morale' things he knew, but the slightly used Silver Star now attached to his collar was something he'd been working towards for years. It was oddly fitting to know that these were John's pins. The dark haired Colonel now wearing one of his backups.

Admittedly he'd already been promoted rather quickly. Perhaps being the weapons officer for pretty much every Earth Space Ship had something to do with that, but this was no less meaningful.

John shook his hand and gave him a slight bow of his head. The man was in full dress uniform as were all the remaining Marine and Air Force officers. He had to admit, this felt almost official. "The Daedalus is yours now Lieutenant Colonel. Try not to scratch the paint."

Marks almost scoffed. The entire outer hull of the Daedalus was still scorched and torn in areas. Without proper manufacturing plants, they'd had to repurpose some of the older Traveler ships that were falling apart.

In fact, Daedalus was less Daedalus and more a Hybrid with all the new/repurposed Traveler technology on it. "I'll try sir."

Sheppard was _still_ his superior officer though. Despite some doubts, Marks knew Sheppard would do anything he could for this city… Sort of similar to the way Marks felt about Daedalus now.

Marks understood why this was all happening now. The people in this city needed hope and they needed strong leaders to follow. Right now that was John, Sam, Larrin and himself. He turned back to look at the primary crew he'd chosen to take on this maiden voyage.

Chuck stood at attention, something rather odd for the fun loving former Sergeant. His smile at being a Lieutenant now was unending.

Drake was ramrod straight, his Marine Dress Uniform neatly pressed and professional looking. His face hid the displeasure that yet again, he'd been passed up for promotion.

Beside him stood Katana, ironically wearing the same Major pins that he himself wore for the past few years. She'd agreed that the ship would operate under Earth Based command structures and to be Marks' second in command _(although he honestly thought it more an equal post as since most of the crew was Traveler, they'd listen to her sooner than they'd listen to him.)._

To the side was the one issue he sort of had though; Dr Esposito with Captain Vega right next to her. John had explained that he'd assign her to the Daedalus as security chief until the Travelers were comfortable, but Marks could tell more than a few people had questions over the two of them.

He was more concerned with the ship though, and the dozens of modifications and _'upgrades' _Katana had insisted be installed to utilize as much Traveler Technology as possible.

It had taken a few days to get used to all the exposed wiring on the ship, but after a few stumbles and trips _(and an unfortunate twisted ankle that landed him under Reyna's care)_ Marks had begun to see the benefit of the hybridization.

The ceremony ended, and everyone clapped and cheered for the soon to be relaunched ship. It wasn't until he'd gotten off the podium that Larrin stopped him suddenly and gave him that sly smile he now knew she had when an idea came to her.

------------------------Chapter 2-------------------------

"Engines?"

Esposito's voice came through clearly on the companel. _"Ready sir."_

Marks looked over to where Katana manned the navigation and sensors. All he did was nod and get a nod in reply.

The newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel then nodded to Chuck. "Weapons and Shields?"

Chuck resisted making a Star Trek joke and nodded. "Standing by sir. Deflectors up and humming beautifully."

Rolling his eyes at the exuberance, Marks finally turned to look at Drake sitting at the side. "Ops?"

The Serbian man now dressed in BDU's nodded in reply. "All systems running, Life Support is at maximum and all systems are go."

The ship was as ready as it would ever be, and Marks knew the entire city was watching. "Let's get to it then. Give me 30% main engines and full thrusters. Do a loop around the city and then give us a medium orbit."

Katana didn't say anything and simply input the commands. Some of the others on the bridge gave the pair a look or two, but again, it wasn't anything unexpected.

The ship began to shake slightly, the new thrusters were a little noisier than the ones Marks had burnt out in the last attempt during the escape from Pegasus, but they did the job efficiently.

The craft lifted off the pier easily, and it wasn't much longer that it hovered several hundred feet above Atlantis, slowly soaring and circling the city of the ancestors.

Marks took the moment for all it was worth. His home… his first real command (even though it was _technically_ stolen) was now complete. "Katana… what say we break out the cake in the mess hall?"

Most everyone on the bridge cracked a smirk. The former Major may have been a bit of a social recluse the past 4 months, but they had the distinct feeling that that was all about to change.

----------------------------------------------------------

"So with the combination of Earth and Traveler Technology, we've got a serious edge up from your standard Generational Ship."

Marks was addressing his senior command staff. Admittedly, he missed Caldwell, Lindsay and whoever else would be on Ops and Nav stations, but these people weren't that much worse.

Katana continued for him. "Because of this, Larrin has asked us to investigate the planet where the Hylea went down 2 months ago. Our own ships were unable to penetrate the radiation layer around what was left of the planet, but with your Naquadria generators and better shields, in conjunction with our anti-radiation technology, we'll be able to go in without a problem."

Chuck bowed his head forward as he leaned on the wall. "Any idea what we'll find?"

Marks shook his head. "Not a clue, but this is recon only. We need to find out what happened to that planet."

"Why?"

Turning to Esposito, Marks wasn't too surprised by the question. "Hmm?"

Esposito was seated next to Vega who looked equally unsure. "Why do we have to find out?"

Everyone looked to each other. It was the question on everyone's mind, but no one really had a good answer.

It was Katana who was the brave one though, and she said it matter of factly. "Because we lost 15 good people and a 400 year old ship on that planet. More than three thousand people have lived on that ship and called it home. The survivors deserve to know what happened… the dead deserve our thought."

A surprisingly heartfelt answer, and Esposito seemed to approve. "Oh… okay."

It was obvious she was still a little traumatized from her ordeal a few weeks back, but Marks knew she'd do her job… especially with Vega by her side. "We'll be taking off in an hour. We're going to test the new weapons systems on the ring of the planet Saudade is orbiting before heading to that planet. It's about 15 hours away so we'll sleep in shifts. I want one of us to be on duty at all times and all of us there for the planet."

The group quickly agreed, and Marks set the schedule he'd drawn up for them on the table.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Bring the new cannons online. I want to test the targeting before we set out." Marks tried to remain calm. This was the first time the Particle Cannons would ever be fired using a Naquadria Generator and he hoped nothing fried. "Target that big one on the right."

Chuck quickly input the commands and nodded. "Targeted sir."

"Fire."

Chuck tapped the control, and a shot each from the 4 Particle cannons now mounted on the forward section of the craft in a square formation pulsed out.

The crew watched as the four red bolts left steam trails as they burned through the cloud of frozen ice clouds and dust. With an impressive blast, they tore the 200 meter diameter rock into smaller chunks of molten rock and water that quickly refroze in beautiful crystalline shapes.

Marks summed it up in one word. "Nice."

Drake chuckled even as he reported. "Energy reserves are looking good. Recharge time gives us a continuous rate of fire of a shot every 2 seconds. If needed we can max out at a 8 shot burst in 4 seconds from each gun with a one minute cool down of all weapon energy reserves."

32 shots and it would drain all their weapons power. Then again, 32 shots was an impressive barrage. "Nice."

Marks could see the others roll their eyes at his repeated use of the word. So he pushed forward and went to the next system. "Alright alright… switch to main Asgard cannons. Give me a shot from each then spin us around for ventral beam cannons."

The tests proceeded as planned. The ship itself was more than battle worthy, but with so many of the original conduits bypassed and refitted with Traveler components, the Asgard Cannons had lost a bit of their rate of fire.

Still stronger than anything but a drone, the Asgard Cannons worked quite spectacularly. Then again, rock and ice weren't the most dangerous of targets.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Hey."

Marks had sorta been dreading this moment, but at the same time he wasn't really avoiding it. "Hey."

Katana moved gracefully into the room and sat across from him. The Captain's ready room as Chuck had put it _(If Marks didn't need Chuck for the next few days he knew he'd have already choked the man out for all the sci-fi references he made.) _was a nice quiet and private place to talk. She sat down with a smile on her face and a tablet in her hand. "We're 12 hours from reaching the planet. Wanted to give you this before you went to bed."

She handed the tablet over to him, and Marks could see the benchmarking tests for the weapons and shield emitters. Everything came out as expected, the weapons were a little slower to recharge due to the physical limitations of the Traveler conduit, but they hadn't really lost any of their bite. In addition, with actual mid-range power particle cannons, Daedalus could take on just about anything and have an equivalent weapon. "Nice… those particle cannons'll give the Asgard Cannons a bit of a rest. God knows it was overkill on Wraith Cruisers."

Katana rolled her eyes and shrugged. "As if anything could be overkill for the Wraith."

"True enough." Marks chuckled despite some bad memories coming back. He looked up at Katana and decided to just get it over with. "Is that all?"

Katana seemed relaxed, and her tone emphasized that. "Depends… how long till we're needed on the bridge?" her smile told Marks all he needed to know.

----------------------Chapter 3---------------------

"Coming out of Hyperspace at the edge of the solar system. Shields up."

Marks nodded and was glad that Chuck was decently smart. "Keep our guns on standby. No telling what's there and I'd rather not provoke it if it can take out a planet."

"Yes sir."

The craft soon exited hyperspace, and Marks turned to Katana. She was all business now and it was odd to think that… well… she was right. Business time. "Sensors?"

Katana quickly ran a scan putting her months long training to use. "The system looks pretty deserted. It only has 2 planets… a gas giant that's probably a failed star and the planet where the Hylea went down."

"ETA?"

Katana furrowed her brow for a moment, then remembered the acronym. "Oh uhh, 23 minutes at our current speed."

Marks tried not to snicker. The Travelers were still getting used to the more esoteric acronyms and sayings of the Earth Born Expedition members. It was hilarious, but Marks kept his composure. "Start long range scans of the planet. Don't want to run into anything unexpected."

The Traveler acknowledged and began the scans, Marks got up out of his seat and moved forward to face the screen. "Magnify on the planet."

It didn't matter who did it, but the screen jumped and what looked like a large asteroid field was now in the place where the lush green planet had once been. Chuck gulped and kept his hands ready to turn the weapons on. "Jesus."

Marks felt like telling the man to calm down, but he completely agreed with the assessment. "Keep frosty… this doesn't look good."

Chuck nodded and kept as focused as he could. "Yes Sir."

Sir… Marks rarely ever gave orders before this whole thing. It felt so odd to be the one in charge now. But he wasn't going to be like Sheppard and let everyone call him by his given name. And he certainly wasn't going to…

Marks turned to Katana and realized that maybe he and Sheppard had more in common than he first thought. Crap. "Once we're in range do an intensive scan. See if we can find the Hylea."

An intensive scan meant time, and seeing there were millions if not trillions of rocks out there, it would take even the Daedalus's supercomputers hours to catalogue it all. Katana simply sighed and nodded.

--------------------------------------------------

"This doesn't make sense…"

Marks forced his eyes to stay open and turned to Katana. How she could keep awake after last night… "What is it?"

She sighed and turned the computer panel to him. "It's not all there. Its like almost a sixth of the projected mass and volume just isn't there."

Something _very_ odd especially considering that a sixth of an Earth Sized planet was a _very_ significant amount. "Okay… is there any natural phenomenon that could have done this?"

Of all people it was Chuck who answered. "Not unless a black hole the size of a micron sped through, like the LHC."

Drake rolled his eyes and muttered. "Oh please, you're not one of _those_ freaks are you?"

Chuck turned and shrugged. "No, but it's still possible."

Another word and Marks would snap. "Enough Gentleman! Let's try and keep focused." Admittedly, they weren't the old frosty crew, and Marks could only hope that combat wasn't on the list of things to do today. "Now unless one of you has a good explanation for what's going on, stay alert."

The two men nodded and got back to their stations. Marks wasn't sure what to feel. A part of him wanted to keep it casual, but a stronger part screamed professionalism.

He looked to Katana and mentally recited. _"I am not Sheppard… I am __not__ Sheppard!"_

_-----------------------------------------------------_

"Mass and Volume scans complete. It's worse than I thought."

It had been 3 hours sitting here at the edge of the debris field, much closer than the Traveler Ship under Captain Sotal had been able to get. Marks blinked away the tiredness and nodded. "How?"

"I'm not picking up nearly enough Naquadah to account for our initial scans… it's like most of it has just disappeared."

Mark's instantly tensed. "…Not good."

Drake didn't understand and spoke up. "What's so bad about that?"

"It's not a couple tons of Naquadah…" Katana answered, almost mockingly. "The planet is missing several hundred _billion_ tons!"

The figure left them all silent. Marks could tell that whatever happened here was too important to let go easily. "Could it have detonated? Atomized?"

Katana shook her head. "I'm not the one to ask but I don't think so."

Marks sighed and tapped his console. "This is Marks to Esposito, are you reading the same figures Katana is"

A moment passed and Esposito's voice came through. "_Yes… Not all the Naquadah is gone, but most of it is. There's more too. It's too cold."_

An eyebrow rose _(Which ironically Esposito wouldn't see)_ and Marks replied. "Excuse me?"

"_It's too cold sir. The planet had a molten Naquadah core, After 2 months, even a year and the chunks should still be very hot relative to the space around them."_

Katana furrowed her brow. "That is odd… whatever happened here is really confusing."

Marks tried to think of a reason for these things to happen, and only one came to his mind that would explain it. "Is it possible somebody did this? On purpose?"

"_It's possible sir… I can't think of a natural reason for this to have happened…. Admittedly I'm not an astrophysicist so you might want to show this to Colonel Carter."_

No time or even easy way to contact Atlantis. The nearest planet with a Stargate was an hour away and they were already here. Marks sighed and decided that if he was going to take proper command of this ship, he wasn't going to defer every decision to Colonels Carter and Sheppard. "Alright… we're going to go into the debris field. If someone did this we might be able to find some evidence of who it was."

Obviously, nobody was too keen on doing that, but they followed orders. Katana added as the engines of the craft pulsed. "We should try and find the Hylea… at least something to take back."

Maybe the Travelers had some ritual, Marks wouldn't be surprised, and he nodded gently.

The ship moved into the debris field in what seemed a slow pace. In actuality, the ship was so small compared to the massive chunks of planet that it only _seemed_ to be moving slowly.

It was disconcerting. Most of the rock was pale, simple rock face. Every now and again though, trees, or even grasslands could be seen, all frozen in the vastness of space.

"Sir…?"

Marks snapped out of his fascination, Chuck's voice distressed. "What is it?"

"I'm detecting motion out there."

Unimpressed, Marks almost said _'Congratulations' _"And…?"

Katana cleared her throat as she looked to the scanner. "It's moving in the _opposite_ direction as the rest of the debris…"

"…and it just changed direction." Chuck added, now with a serious voice.

Marks now understood, and he felt the tension build in his veins. "Can you get a visual?"

Katana quickly input the command, cursed when she messed it up, then input the correct command. "Here we go…" The screen popped up and what looked like dozens of city sized rocks appeared. One smaller one though moved between them almost nimbly. "That's it… magnifying."

The screen jumped and a full screen view of the moving object appeared. It was roughly shaped like a beetle and seemed to be catching specific rocks with its 'limbs'. Marks screwed his face and motioned to Katana. "Analysis?"

The scanners quickly did their job, and Katana was confused over the readings. "What the…? Scanners aren't working properly. All I'm getting back is scattered readings."

Drake seemed to stiffen, his face slowly became paler. "Does it look like staticy readings?"

Marks normally would have said something when a junior officer went in before he did. But seeing as Drake seemed genuinely concerned, allowed it to pass.

Katana noticed as well, and turning to Marks saw him give a tiny nod. "Yes actually… I can't get a proper scan."

Interrupting them all, Chuck suddenly muttered. "_Tinman_…"

Nobody understood what Chuck had just said, but Katana seemed to think it was only her. "_Excuse_ me?"

Chuck turned in his seat and mused. "From Star Trek the Next Generation. It was a life form that lived in space and could serve as a ship for people."

Marks swore that when the time came, he was going to personally strangle the Canadian sci-fi fan technician. Before he could groan though, Drake interrupted again. "_That's_ what you think that thing is?"

Chuck turned back to the screen and shrugged. "Well… maybe not exactly but _look_ at it!" He turned his head this time and nodded to Marks. "Weapons to maximum?

Shuddering distastefully, Marks muttered. "Eugh… you're not related to Cam Mitchell are you Chuck?" knowing nobody would get the joke; Marks just shook his head at Chuck's confusion and pointed. "Get us closer… and yes… bring weapons online."

-----------------------Chapter 4-----------------------------

The Daedalus moved between the giant clumps of broken planet, the shields flaring when smaller pieces bounced off harmlessly. It was almost graceful the way it slalomed through the large rocks like an Olympic skier about to win a gold medal.

As it approached the unknown object ahead though, the crew became apprehensive. Marks looked to his com panel and opened it to full frequencies. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Marks of the USS Daedalus…" a moment of recrimination. USS may have been it's designation, but certainly he wasn't under the orders of the United States military here. "…If you can receive and transmit, please respond."

Chuck smirked, and Marks could tell that the technician turned pilot was thinking of the different allusions to Star Trek he was currently making.

A few seconds passed, and up ahead the large ship, now with visual references around it, seemed to slow and spin around dramatically. "Any luck on sensors?" Katana shook her head, her fist pumping. Her eyes narrowed and Marks cold see she was becoming aggressive. That meant only one thing. "Chuck… manual targeting. Keep our guns pointed but don't let them know we're doing it."

A sensible precaution, Chuck quickly followed orders.

The beetle like object was clearer in the view screen now. It had two large bulbous sections with 6 large claw like appendages sticking out the side. It didn't have a _'head'_ though and looked oddly like a scarab. _"The hell are you?"_ Marks turned to Katana. "Can you guess how big it is?"

A few moments for the computer to extrapolate, and Katana replied. "It's a little bigger than us if you just count the main section, the arms are much longer though and could even wrap around us."

That made the hairs on the back of Mark's neck stand up. "…Chuck, don't let that thing get too close. Drake, sound general quarters, I want everyone at battle stations."

The alarm went off, and the lights on the ship dimmed. Marks couldn't help but think of the bridge of the Enterprise and tried to actively avoid acting like Shatner, though he knew Chuck would call him on the Picard maneuver he did to his jumpsuit.

The object on the screen moved closer, and from the center a seventh appendage pushed out from what appeared to be a split in the dark facets. The light reflected off the object as if it were shiny, and the screen had to polarize to prevent any damage to their eyes. "The hell's it doing?"

The seventh appendage stuck out, and the beetle like shape moved so that it's 'bottom' faced the Daedalus. Marks wasn't going to take anymore chances and he gave the order. "Chuck… Asgard Forward Cannons. Fire."

The Canadian hesitated a second, but quickly nodded. "Yes sir."

Marks watched on the screen as in moments, two super concentrated bolts of ionized plasma spat out of the forward cannons flew towards the beetle-like object.

It only took seconds for the fast moving shots to slam into the creature. The blue bolts drove deep gouges into the object leaving white-hot melted craters.

So it was a shock when the white hot splotches seemed to spread, the entire outer shell of this object suddenly awash in a light red glow. "The hell?" Before Chuck could react and evade, the Object suddenly sped up and rushed the refit Daedalus. The long appendages of the side whipped out and moved to pinch the Daedalus like a giant claw. _"Get us outta here Chuck! Full engines!"_

Chuck furiously tapped the controls, but the ship suddenly rocked from an impact.

Marks stumbled and pulled himself into his chair to hang on. Alarms sounded off and Drake reported. "That thing's _latched_ _onto us_ sir! Shields are draining!"

"Full engines! Shake it off us!"

Chuck dragged the power meter to full, and the ship rocked from the tremendous forces being applied. To the crew's surprise, the 7th appendage in the center of the creature suddenly began to emit a strange beam, but that was just it. It wasn't _emitting _it. It was _drawing_ it in.

The rocking stopped suddenly, and Chuck couldn't believe his screen. "Sir! Engines are completely nullified! It's draining the energy before it can even propel us!

The dim red glow of the object grew, and it became obvious that it was draining the shields. Marks reacted instantly with his training, missiles were too close…a nuke would kill them all… Railguns weren't likely strong enough… Asgard beams were useless… _"Fire Particle Cannons!"_

To his surprise, Katana jumped out of her seat and yelled. "_No! Railguns! Fire Railguns on full spread! Do it!"_

Chuck was shocked over what to do, but in the tense moment saw that Marks didn't repeat his order. So he did as Katana asked and input the firing solution.

12 of the railgun turrets mounted on the top and forward sections of the Daedalus spun around, and Marks watched on the screen as 12 lances of hypersonic Naquadah hardened armor piercing shells washed over the attacking ship.

The shells each punched deep divots and chipped away at the surprisingly dense armor of the ship, but it had a positive effect.

Drake called out as the ship let go and retreated under railgun fire. "It's backing off! Shields are at sixty four percent and holding!"

Now Marks was _mad_, not only had he almost made a mistake, but that _thing_ was trying to get away. "Chuck, forward missile banks, fire!"

No hesitation and four Mark Four missiles burst forth from the forward launchers. The ship ahead of them tried to evade, but the Trident-IV missiles were being manually steered by Chuck and slammed into the underbelly of it, tearing large chunks out.

Marks retook control and forgot his near mistake. "I want a firing solution for side launchers and Railguns! That thing is…"

He'd spoken too soon, and to everyone's shock, a hyperspace window suddenly opened in front of the creature and it quickly entered without a fuss. Pieces of the broken materials still floated about and the battle was over.

Now came the time for recriminations. Marks had made a mistake, and now he had to live with it…

------------------------------------------------------------

"Gate is active, communications uplink online."

This was going to be a hard thing to talk about, but it had to be done. Larrin was gonna blow a gasket. "This is Daedalus calling Atlantis, please come in."

A few moments passed, and the command staff came into view in the control room. Sam stood with Larrin by her side and John in the background. _"Daedalus this is Colonel Carter. What's the situation?"_

Marks gulped, and began his report. "The situation is that the planet appears to have been mined. We don't have any idea how it happened or exactly who, but we encountered a ship that resembled the creatures described by Colonel Sheppard's team on H48-7K4. It was harvesting raw materials from the debris field left. We're sending all pertinent information through now and suggest you look over it."

Sam's attention turned to the monitor next to her, and her brow furrowed. "What in the…?"

Seeing that Sam was perplexed, Larrin took over. "We'll go over it right away… were you able to find any trace of the Hylea?"

"No ma'am, and further, the ship proved to be immune to our Asgard Cannons. It attacked us using an energy draining beam as well as physically trying to latch onto the ship."

John moved over from his position to the side with his eyes wide. "What? You mean like…?"

Marks replied before John could even finish. "Yes Sir… just like your unknown attackers when investigating the Hylea. We had to use Railguns and Missiles to drive it off." Marks hesitated for a second, remembering how he'd almost given that ship even more power. "I recommend you recall _all_ Traveler ships to Atlantis for weapons refit. Particle Cannons are likely to be ineffective against these things."

Larrin's eyes narrowed, and Marks could see her teeth grinding. "… Good idea…"

Marks knew Larrin well enough to see she was cursing a blue streak in her mind. When he saw John on the screen put a hand on her shoulder though, his eyebrows raised a little. "We're coming back to Atlantis to drop off the fragments we found. With any luck we'll find some kind of weakness."

John nodded and remained stoic. "Any luck… Atlantis out."

The screen shut off, and in the hanger bay Captain Vega reported that the Jumper's DHD shut off signaling the wormhole closure. Marks looked to Chuck and nodded. "Set course for Atlantis… "

The Gate Tech turned pilot didn't need anymore goading and quickly turned the ship out of orbit. "Yes Sir."

Marks needed to be alone. He had never expected to run into this kind of opposition on his first day of command and chiding himself for it wasn't helping. "I'll be in my ready room…"

Nobody referred to the Star Trek reference, Chuck simply remained silent and monitored engine readouts, Drake kept an eye on life support, and Katana merely watched as Marks walked away.

-----------------------Chapter 5-------------------------

Katana was alone in the mess hall of the Daedalus. Only two cooks had come with the ship and the majority of the Traveler crew preferred to make their own food.

The odd mix of greens and rehydrated meat on her plate were untouched Marks could see, and he walked over and sat down in front of her.

Neither said anything, but it was obvious what was on his mind. He reached over, yanked a celery-like vegetable off, and played with it in his hands.

Finally, after almost a minute Katana mused. "You didn't know. Drake wasn't making much sense."

Marks snorted. "You understood him."

"Maybe it was because I studied everything that Larrin brought back when they were attacked."

He hadn't made the connection… the _obvious_ connection between the creatures encountered by the rescue team and this ship that nearly ended his command. "I should have seen it… the Asgard cannons didn't work… why would the particle cannons work?"

"Who knows? They might have."

Marks growled softly hating to be patronized. "I made a mistake."

Katana pushed the plate away from her, obviously not hungry. "We all make mistakes… just be glad you didn't lose the ship."

Another awkward silence, and Marks remembered how it felt to watch the Traveler Aurora get pulverized by the Wraith Super hive. He also remembered that Katana was one of the few they'd been able to pull off the ship before it was destroyed. "I'm in command though… I'm not allowed to make mistakes."

Katana shook her head and pulled his hand closer. "Is that what you think?That this was _your _fault?"

"I'm the commander, it's my responsibility. Every life on this ship."

Katana sighed and squeezed his hand. "That's true… but you're also allowed to make mistakes as long as you learn from them." She smiled sweetly _(which should have warned Marks)_ and motioned with her head. "Now stop sulking and move on. I don't want anyone to think I'm willing to sleep with a loser."

Eyes wide, Marks knew that one way or another he'd have to rise up from this self-inflicted pit of despair. Thankfully Katana was willing to uhh… _help_ him along the way.

'_I am not Sheppard… I am __not__ Sheppard!'_

----------------------------------------------------------

"Thanks for coming along Leese. I…"

Alicia held her hand up, Rafaela had turned out to be a good friend and with precious few earth born humans left in the city, she'd quickly become friends with them all_ (Except for Radek… he still lived almost like a hermit talking mostly only with Mila and the other technicians. Colonel Carter was a little reserved as well, but she was friendly.) _"Not a problem. You ever need anything don't hesitate to ask… We gotta stick together."

Rafaela smiled and gave Alicia a small hug of thanks. "Thanks for the offer. I just need a little more time."

Understandable, Alicia sure as hell would be more than a little bothered to have suffered the same. Then again Alicia probably would have killed any man trying the same. "of course… We're all here for you."

With that, Rafaela walked down the ramp to the pier and back onto Atlantis. Alicia went back up to the bridge quickly, gave her regards to the new Lt. Colonel Marks and did him the courtesy of requesting permission to disembark. The serious man appreciated the attention to detail and bid her a good day.

Now technically off-duty, Alicia wanted nothing more than to go to her quarters, drink some of that strong sedative tea Teyla had found on the mainland, and sleep hard till someone needed her again.

It wasn't to be though, as just as she was approaching her quarters her headset ringed out. _"Captain Vega, please come in."_

John… the voice was unmistakable. He probably wanted a report on how Esposito was doing… and since it was a private mission anyway, that meant they'd have to meet up… "This is Vega… Colonel Sheppard is that you?"

She didn't call him Colonel that much anymore… only during briefings or combat training. Off-duty, in private, even when just joking around with the others they would use their given names. Certainly if there were still in the Milky Way or Pegasus it would be seen as strange, but like it or not, she'd grown close to the messy haired Colonel. _"Yes Captain, I know you just got back but could you come see me within the hour? Give you a chance to settle in."_

Opting not to groan loudly. Alicia instead just winced as she passed by a few Travelers on a stroll. "Copy sir... I'll be there in 35 minutes." Enough time to get to her quarters, change into something a little comfier yet still professional, and maybe even grab a quick shower.

"_Thank you." _The link shut off and Alicia wondered exactly what John wanted to see her for.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Sir? Are you here?"

The office was unnaturally dark, why she had absolutely no clue. Especially given that she'd been summoned here. Alicia couldn't help but think that she was about to walk into some deep dark cave and face trolls or something… That's what she got for trying to strike up a conversation with Radek the other day.

"_Leese… please come in."_

Okay… that was odd. John's voice was oddly calm and low. Usually it had a playfulness to it that even if he looked like an idiot _(Like when he fell out of that tree outside the refugee village a few months back. She'd never let him live that down as it was the true start to their friendship) _he could still come off suave. "John?"

He was sitting with his back to the desk. Alicia could almost see the cat next to him and the _"Dr. Claw" _symbol above his chair. God Alicia needed to stop watching those cartoons Dusty loved to jam into the DVD player.

"_Please… sit."_

Okay… this was getting a little strange. Not creepy but… just a little _off_. "Something wrong?" The room's atmosphere was strange, only the light from the computer he'd been working at lit the room and she could barely see the walls. Then again, they probably hardly ever saw the light for all the time he was in here.

"_No… just needed to talk."_

"Oh? Uh… well the mission went okay as you know. We're all still alive." She hoped that's what he wanted to talk about, as right now she felt very strange sitting here talking to the back of his head.

"_Good. How are you?"_

It had been awhile since she'd been asked that question, so she answered with the standards. "I'm okay."

"_Really?" _Finally he turned around, his face solemn and serious. "Are you okay? _Really?"_

Ohh… this was one of _those_ post mission debriefings. "Well… it's tough but yeah… I'm doing a lot better." He would know better than anyone else. He'd seen her during the weaker moments she'd had. "What's all this about John?"

John stayed still in his position for a few seconds before speaking. "It's about Atlantis… she's missing something… _I'm_ missing something."

A little confused, Alicia simply gulped wondering what it was. "Oh?"

A small edge of a smile creased John's lips, almost as if he were attempting to look sincere. "It's something I haven't had in a long time… something that for a time I didn't think I really needed."

Even more confused then ever, Alicia's mind couldn't help but instantly jump to the worst conclusion. All the rumors about them burrowed little seeds of things she hadn't even begun to consider till this very moment. "…and I can help with that?"

Unashamedly, John nodded. "Yes… yes you can." He reached down into his pocket and pulled something out. He set it on the desk between them.

Panic instantly struck Alicia's throat. She recognized the little box as a jewelry box. Where he'd gotten it… and what might be inside caused her heart to start racing… and not completely in a good way. "This is…?"

John smiled; he was _definitely_ trying to look sincere. "This is something I got for you. Something I think we need in order to continue." He sighed softly. "_Something I think both of us knew was coming."_

Alicia felt the back of her throat dry. She couldn't scream even if she wanted to. Wordlessly, she ever so slowly reached out and gently took the box. It was velvet covered and black… where the _hell_ had he gotten this from?!

With the precision of a bomb diffusal expert. Alicia began to open it. She took one last look at John and could see he was watching for her response.

Finally cracking the box open, a glint of shininess bounced from the light emitted from the computer screen. Her eyes went wide and jaw dropped at the sight of what the box contained.

John mused softly. "You like?"

Alicia's higher reasoning centers shut off for a few seconds and she muttered as she nodded her head. "Uh huh…"

A snicker left John's throat and he sighed contentedly. "Good, because even though we're not in contact with Earth. I still consider it official."

It was unbelievable. The pristine shine… the perfect cuts and grooves. It was honestly the last thing she could have expected to happen today. "Official? You mean…?"

John got up from the desk, and slowly walked over to stand beside her. "Congratulations… _Major_."

Alicia couldn't believe it. The golden leaf in the box was new… _pristine._ John had somehow gotten someone to make this for her. "_Ma_…_ma_…_Major?"_

John nodded and squeezed her shoulder supportively. "You could always decline."

Back in the real world, Alicia turned to him and shook her head. "_No! no-no-no…_ I… I just…"

"Shocked?"

She nodded, still staring at the pin in the box. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Permission to get excited?!"

John snorted and nodded. "Only when I'm around."

The former Captain had lost all sign of being tired and jumped out of her chair. She let out a giddy cheer and turned into John giving him a big hug and a peck on the cheek.

She then realized that _maybe_ she was a little _too_ excited and pulled away. _"Oh my god!_" John's cheeks had become flushed, and his eyes wide. "…_Sorry-Sorry!_…_!_ Sorry _I uhh… I'm just…I just…."_

John stifled his laugh and touched his cheek as if intrigued. "I can tell." His slightly seductive smirk was laced with humor.

Fear suddenly entered her mind and what potentially brought this about. Alicia lost the smile as she said what came to her mind as quickly as she thought of it. "Wait… you're not giving me this because…?"

John's face grew deadly serious. "Because we're _friends_?"

Hearing it made it all the more ridiculous. Alicia took a deep breath and sighed as she winced. "Sorry… shouldn't have even thought it."

John grumbled softly and took the pin out of the box she held in her hand. "Well _Major_… This pin carries a lot more than just a rank. It's not just me who's giving this to you; Both Larrin and Sam agree that you've earned it and are worthy of joining the command staff."

Again, Alicia's eyes went wide. "You mean…?"

John nodded. "You're now Deputy Military Commander of this base. Admittedly you're gonna do a hell of a lot less paperwork than Lorne ever had to do." The Colonel cracked a smirk. "But we're going to need leaders who can think quickly and command respect."

The Colonel reached to her neck and pulled the 2 silver bars off with a deft hand. Alicia suddenly felt a wave of emotion as John attached the Major pin to her collar and fastened it securely.

John continued. "You are now officially my second in command Major Alicia Vega." He snapped a quick salute, his face covered with a muted smile.

Alicia could feel her jaw trembling slightly, and her eyes moistening. She returned the salute sharply and took a deep quivering breath. She remembered every last promotion she'd gotten, 10 years worth of loyal service to the Air Force and Earth.

Earth… a place she might never see again. She couldn't help the tears at thinking her mother would probably never get to see these pins. Even if it wasn't officially recorded in the Air Force registrar, it still meant the world to her.

John saw the emotions playing in her eyes and bowed his head. "You need a minute?"

Controlling her breath, Alicia dapped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "No…no just… just a second."

John turned his head and made sure no one out in the hallway could see them he then slowly and gently leaned in to hug her.

Alicia closed her eyes and tried not to think about what she'd left behind on Earth, but just like after Dusty's party, it was hard not to.

John whispered softly as he gently squeezed her. "_Here's the trick to being in command… you only get to cry when you're alone… or with me."_

A snort left Alicia's lips. John always knew exactly what to say. "_Thank you… I… I just…"_

"_I know… _That's why I waited to give you this privately." He broke the hug and held her by the shoulders. "Whaddya say we celebrate?"

Alicia smiled, and she sniffled away the moment's tears. "I'd like that. What'd you have in mind?"

John smiled and motioned with his head. "Come on… Carter and Larrin are waiting with a bottle'a _Jose_. Tradition you know?"

Sleep might be what Alicia wanted a half hour ago, but now she wanted nothing else but to celebrate.

The hard part would come later when she told Dusty that she was even more her superior officer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

**Teaser for Episode 9 – Contact Pt 1 (Release in a week)**

**Episode 9 – Contact Pt 1**

_156 days in Hoag's Object_

-----------------------------

**Laura Cadman:** _You know, when I decided to come to this galaxy, I never thought I'd be checking planets for their silicon content._

**Alicia Vega:** _Well, what'd you think you'd be doing?_

**Laura Cadman:** _I dunno… walking around… blowing stuff up… maybe tap dancing every once in awhile._

**Dan Drake:** _Exactly when did you lose your mind?_

**Laura Cadman:** _The real question is did I ever have one in the first place._

**Alicia Vega:** _***looks up***_ _Just end me now._

-------------------------------------------------------


	9. Contact Part 1 First Half

**Episode 9 – Contact Pt 1**

_156 days in Hoag's Object_

_-----------------------------_

_A/N: This is the first episode in a 3 episode arc. For those waiting for the action-action-action(echo), it _really _kicks up here._

_I've also gotten some opinions that I should speed up my releases somewhat. (I think everyone can agree on that) Sooo.. I've made a compromise. Each "Episode" will consist of 2 separate chapters on bi-weekly release. So instead of waiting a whole week for the next episode, updates should be every 3-4 days depending on what it is._

_So I'm posting the first half of Contact Pt 1 today, and in 3 days I'll post the second half. This way, I can keep a steady flow of releases without actually speeding up my writing :P _

_I've also been watching and reading up on SGU, and to my delight (and dismay) an idea I had for Dark Frontier was used there (well not really, they're two completely different ideas that use the same concept for much much different reasons) so I'd just like to point out that when it comes, I am __not__ copying SGU. (not saying what episode it'll be in, but it's in the first season of both series :P )_

_Otherwise, Enjoy! _

-----------------------------

**Laura Cadman:** _You know, when I decided to come to this galaxy, I never thought I'd be checking planets for their silicon content._

**Alicia Vega:** _Well, what'd you think you'd be doing?_

**Laura Cadman:** _I dunno… walking around… blowing stuff up… maybe tap dancing every once in awhile._

**Dan Drake:** _Exactly when did you lose your mind?_

**Laura Cadman:** _The real question is did I ever have one in the first place._

**Alicia Vega:** _***looks up***_ _Just end me now._

-------------------------------------------------------

When John had told Alicia that she would have less paperwork to do then Major Lorne, she had thought it a blessing for her own tenure as Major and new Deputy Military Commander.

What John neglected to mention until the hangover the morning after was that she'd have to shadow him and Carter for a few weeks to get caught up in Atlantis's functions.

Right now sitting and going over score cards for marksmanship and situational awareness for the first Traveler group to successfully pass the training that they'd set up was one of the horrors of this new position. At least John was stuck here too. "Nevas has experience with leading a squad… pair him up with Dusty or Drake and he'll learn fast."

John nodded and sighed, his eyes obviously wanting to pop out of their sockets. "Agreed…. But most of these other guys don't stand out… basic grunts."

Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "Still useful… we run into anymore of those crystal things off-world, it's nice to know I've got backup that can shoot straight."

Leaning over the table, John fisted his hair and groaned. "True…" he shook off the exhaustion and looked up. "You had lunch yet?"

"No… you offering?" Alicia snickered, She knew John just wanted a break and he hated eating alone.

Shrugging his shoulders, John played it off. "Well… I'd be a pretty bad CO is I let my subordinate go hungry."

They both chuckled, and with a simple nod Alicia confirmed that she wanted to get out of here. They both got up, but instantly she noticed John moving with a limp. He'd already been sitting when she arrived to his office and gave a concerned expression. "You okay?"

John nodded and rolled his eyes. "Yeah… the Shin… it's the perfect device for finding furniture in the dark."

Alicia snickered and yawned, it had been a long day and it was barely 1pm. Tomorrow she had an off world patrol and she was looking forward to the trip.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Alright Major, Captain Cadman will be joining you to do a minor geological survey. We've been doing some hypothesizing and one of our theories is that those creatures we've been encountering are actually mining planets for raw materials. Since you'll be on a refugee planet, we'd like to have an idea whether or not it might be at risk."

Alicia nodded to Colonel Carter and wrung her hands together. "Who're my team?"

John, who was seated at the far end of the conference room with Larrin and Marks spoke up. "That's up to you. We're still working out a rank structure for the Travelers we've trained, so you might rather take our people. Should be a milk run so enjoy yourself."

Larrin smirked and cheerfully added. "No problem for me! My guys hate walking!"

Alicia noted the way Colonel Carter rolled her eyes in mild amusement. Her words were a healthy mix of serious and calm. "Be that as it may, it's still important. I'd like you to get as much practice being in command so when we really need you, you're experienced."

It was inadvertently offensive, but Alicia knew Sam meant no harm. She was just honestly concerned and wanted Alicia to get used to command. "Of course Ma'am. I'll go let them know."

Sam smiled and nodded. "When you get back we'll go over our full base inventory and trade with the refugee villages. Dismissed.'

Alicia nodded silently as she moved towards the sliding doors and gracefully left the room. She heard Sam begin a sentence with "John" right at the beginning but didn't catch the end of it.

This whole situation felt so strange. It had been a little over 5 months in this new galaxy, 5 months of the same people day in day out, and no real purpose beyond survival.

The first month had been the worst. Nothing much to do, getting the hell kicked out of her by whatever that thing in the outpost was… she'd already been acting out and not behaving like a seasoned 10 year veteran of the USAF… and that's when John began to take an interest in her.

As loath as she was to admit it, his support had done more for her than anything else.

---------------------------------------------------------

The idea of being in command was still fresh in Alicia's mind. But just wearing the pins and knowing that she was in charge was already changing the way she was thinking. As a captain, she'd always followed orders, and every once in awhile gave a few.

But now as a major, she had full responsibility for her team… some of the only earth born humans in this galaxy.

She'd come to know them all rather well in the past 5 months.

Dusty of course she'd known for years. Both starting out on Colonel Reynold's SG team on Earth, they developed a quick friendship and talked about just anything. A year fighting the Ori had taught them to depend on each other and no matter what rank either of them held, she considered Dusty an equal.

Cadman was an oddball, not quite serious, but not quite reckless. Alicia couldn't help but think of her the same way she did C4… Stable until something detonated her. She was different with the others though…. She worked well with Traveler, Refugee, or even the command staff. She reminded Alicia of teenagers who acted like adults.

Drake… Ha! The guy was obviously still in his teenage years as far as his attitude went. Insanely fun to hang around with, but he seemed to have a little bit of a love affair with the bottle, and it showed whenever they hung out in a group… She'd begun to back away from him especially because she had to be a true example now… and the other day when he'd asked her out had brought a shudder to her core.

Granted, it'd been hard to sidestep the rather handsome man as they _had_ hung out before. She'd made some excuse about working with Carter on some command thing _(Technically not a lie, she did go and talk with Carter about what responsibilities she'd be taking.)_ but she felt bad over turning him down.

She was actually surprised he asked in the first place… as far as Alicia knew, he was dating some Traveler Medic he met at Dusty's party. Maybe the whole _"Earth vs Traveler"_ bit had gotten to him.

Alicia certainly felt miffed about some of the Traveler customs. A good reason why she turned down Drake was pure Pavlovian response, she'd turned down at least 30 Travelers who thought they could _get_ her, and at this point people were gossiping about her tremendously.

It had gotten even worse when the promotion came. She'd nearly snapped and kicked Nevas's ass when she overheard him making a comment involving both her and Sheppard as well as some vivid descriptions. She hated when gossip involved her… her private life was just that.

She also understood _why_ everyone talked about her and her CO… and she couldn't _really_ blame them._ (Though she sorely wanted to)_

The Forest surrounding the gate was different than most of the ones she'd seen in the Milky Way and Pegasus… this was almost a jungle, and she felt the sweat begin to bead on her neck. She was very glad to have prepared and brought some baby powder, but there was only limited supplies of the stuff and given the temperature she'd have to be… sensible about the amounts she used.

At least Alicia's hair wasn't rubbing her neck in the curly ponytail and clip she'd attached that morning. She'd stopped straightening it a few months ago and was glad she'd tied it up for today. "Alright we're gonna do a perimeter sweep, pick up that rock Cadman wants, make a quick stop at the village, then head on home."

Cadman sighed as she looked around, a mining kit on her back. "You know, when I decided to come to this galaxy, I never thought I'd be checking planets for their silicon content.

Alicia smirked and turned to her. "Well, what'd you think you'd be doing?"

With a shrug, Cadman mused as she stepped away from the stargate. "I dunno… walking around… blowing stuff up… maybe tap dancing every once in awhile."

From in front where he'd taken a flanking position, Drake turned his head and deadpanned. "Exactly when did you lose your mind?"

Equally deadpan, Cadman replied. "The real question is did I ever have one in the first place."

Alicia groaned softly and looked up to the sky. "Just end me now"

Dusty chuckled as she took her position next to Alicia and blew a hard sigh. "Whew… can we swing by a 7-11? I'd kill for a slushy." She fanned herself and picked at her loose BDU shirt forcing air in.

Cadman chuckled and added as they began to move forward. "I just want a giant bottle of cold Gatorade." Her clothes were much more loose than normal. Because of the scientific nature of her being here, she'd opted to not wear BDUs or even fitted clothing. She even only carried a Particle Magnum in lieu of a heavier weapon.

Alicia couldn't help but envy that despite Cadman's… _larger_ assets, she was probably quite comfortable in the heat.

Finally adding to the wish list, Drake sighed. "Iced Cappuccino here… What about you Maj?"

Alicia smirked; it seemed that Drake hadn't quite given up yet. "Heineken, Cold. Now let's move. The longer we stand around the longer Cadman's gonna take digging."

The named captain stepped forward and groaned. "We need to go somewhere that's remote. The less chance of someone through the stargate messing with it, the more accurate the results will be."

Drake groaned softly. "Oh great. And we've got no idea what could be out here."

Alicia felt an odd tug. Part of her wanted to tell them to be quiet and focus on the mission, another part of her wanted to join in, still another part of her wanted to scratch that little area between her… "Villagers say there's a lot of smaller animal life out here, biggest thing they've seen is like a mountain lion."

Cadman again started laughing, but she kept her eyes open as they began to walk through the humid jungle. "Wish I had Bubbles around."

Drake took second position and scanned the jungle with his P90. "Bubbles? What's that?"

A loud pop from Dusty's bubble gum, and Cadman replied. "Not what, who. He's a character on Trailer park boys who loves cats. Chuck's got the DVDs and it's a pretty funny show."

Dusty chuckled softly and wiped her brow. "_Trailer_ park boys? I saw a few episodes and I didn't get it… a pair of fat guys and a dork… I think I laughed once in total."

Alicia didn't know jack about Trailer Park Boys, She preferred the Simpsons and thanks to John, Futurama to a degree. Granted she didn't get some of the jokes, but Bender had officially become her hero. "Never seen it. Maybe we should give it a chance when we get back."

Almost on cue, Drake added. "Sounds like fun, I'm in." The three women instantly turned to him and glared knowingly. They then looked to each other and with small nods organized their raid.

Cadman started. "I'll talk to Chuck to see if I can get the discs… you'll be bringing Kraya?"

Drake instantly stiffened in his posture, feeling suddenly threatened. "…_Maybe_… I don't know if she'll get the humor."

Dusty continued the attack, much to Alicia's amusement. "Oh.. what about Renata? She'd probably like it. "

Laughing at how Drake's ears began to glow red from his realizing that all three women knew of his quick acceptance of Traveler culture, he turned a defensive face to them. "She wouldn't get it either!"

Fully recognizant that he was already embarrassed, Alicia turned a sunny smile to him. "You could always ask Larrin, I'm sure she'd say yes this time."

Drake groaned loudly. Was everything he did recorded and passed along to the city? "Aw _come on!_ That's below the belt!"

Cadman, ever the one to continue teasing, mused as she wiped her brow. "No, below the belt is asking how the kids are."

The other two ladies on the team groaned softly in sympathy, and Drake instead stared back at Cadman. "Funny. Least I'm getting laid."

Seeing that the conversation was about to go below the belt in every sense of the word, Alicia interjected. "Alright alright… calm down kiddies." She'd been hanging around Sheppard too much and started using phrases he would. She'd been noticing just about everyone starting to hit below the belt when teasing and Alicia knew it wasn't a friendly thing.

Both Dusty and Cadman snickered softly not paying attention to Drake's rebuttal. Drake instead scoffed at Alicia, which surprised her. "Kiddies? I'm 2 years older than you!"

Eyes wide for a moment, Alicia raised the tone of her voice. "Oh? Last I heard I was 2 _ranks_ your senior."

Drake seemed to standoff with her for a moment, Alicia with one foot on a rock and the other supporting her weight. The FN-SCAR-H in her hands glistened with it's recent cleaning. Drake stood his ground for a few moments, but seeing that it was pointless, lowered his shoulders. "…You're right… Sorry Laura."

Being nice, Laura patted him on the shoulder. "Me too. Sorry Dan."

The Captain and Lieutenant nodded and smiled at each other. Alicia felt much better as it was now disaster averted.

At least that's what it felt like until Alicia heard a branch snapping nearby. Instantly her instincts took over and she spun with her rifle at the ready.

Nothing… and with all four of the now alert, nothing else could be heard. "The hell was that?"

Another branch snapped, this one further away and in a different direction. Dusty snapped to and aimed.

Nothing again. She narrowed her eyes and tried to deduce any movement… nothing was moving. "Anyone else feel like something's watching us?"

The team looked around; there were still the odd animal sounds, the rustle of the wind in the trees, and now no movement of anything large. Cadman was the first to lower her weapon. "Yeah… probably a big mountain lion."

Drake deadpanned, still a little worried. "Technically not a mountain lion… _like_ a mountain lion."

Alicia rolled her eyes, and feeling a little sticky in a sensitive area decided to speed things up. "Don't you start… now come on… This place gives me the creeps."

Dusty suddenly smacked her neck with one hand, again drawing the other's weapons up. "Dammit! Stupid flies… knew I shouldn't have used that new moisturizer!"

Groans were her only reply.

-----------------------Chapter 2---------------------------

Things were going well; Alicia had to admit, her fears that her friends wouldn't accept her command (Especially Cadman seeing as they'd been the same rank) were pretty much unfounded after she'd established her authority with Drake. He might be childish at times, but the Marine in him had resurfaced and he was tight and frosty now.

Well… not frosty, as he kept scratching himself in a place Alicia wished she hadn't seen, but there was no erasing _that_ memory now.

The village elder _(why all the old Pegasus Refugees kept their elder systems was beyond her)_ had been surprisingly worried. He mentioned things about ghosts and the feeling of being watched. It was very disconcerting to say the least.

Alicia had decided to be cautious, there were so many unknowns in this galaxy and she couldn't help but think about that ghost thing that had attacked her on Saudade. Her _'spidey sense'_ was tingling so to speak. _(She really needed to stop chilling with John so much.)_

So now as they headed back towards the gate, the entire team slightly on edge, Alicia tried to keep the mood light. "So guys… it's almost 6 months in a few weeks. We should have a party."

Cadman smiled. "I'll get Chuck right on it."

Giggling at Cadman's words, Dusty hopped over a broken tree and gave Cadman a suggestive look. "You've been hanging out with Chuck a lot… something you wanna tell us?"

In the heat, Alicia couldn't tell whether Cadman was blushing or not, she chose to believe the former only because it was funnier given Cadman's words. "It's not like he doesn't hang out with _anyone_ else! Besides, we jam every now and again to beat the boredom"

Alicia was surprised at Dusty's teasing. It wasn't like her to tease someone else when there was plenty of ammo on her. She seemed almost trying to destress about something. Alicia wondered if she and Ronon were having problems… then again, not her business.

Dusty laughed though and shook her head idly. "Oh is _that_ what they're calling it these…"

Another branch snapped in the distance and Dusty immediately stopped and aimed. The quartet of soldiers all became alert. Yet again, something was following them.

Silence again… whatever was around them moved fast and _very_ quietly. Almost as if it were testing them. Alicia could see that whatever this was, it had intelligence. "Okay… screw patience… everyone back to the gate _now!"_

Without waiting to see what was around them the group of four soldiers began to hurriedly move towards the gate, now only about 100 feet away.

They covered the distance quite quickly, and Alicia noted with no small sense of pride the way they covered her as she dialed. The others quickly took defensive positions around the gate, using nearby trees for cover

These trees were _very_ close to the Stargate. Usually the area around the gate had a small opening in order to give the incoming people a place to set up. At least that's what she thought back in the Milky Way and Pegasus.

The DHD glowed an eerie violet, something everyone was still getting used to. These gates were similar to the ones back in the Milky Way, though a bit less noisy. The final chevron locked and Alicia called out on her radio. "Atlantis this is Vega! We're coming through now."

Chuck's ever present voice came back. "_Got it, Shield's down."_

One by one the Team began to go through, First Drake, then Dusty…

As Alicia began to wave Cadman through, she suddenly keeled back and flew off to the side as if hit with something. Milliseconds later, an unholy whoosh followed that knocked Alicia down to the ground..

Disorientation… a scream… loud crashing, Alicia didn't know what was going on. She wasn't expecting it, and looking up she saw a faint trail of smoke above her. She had no clue what it was, but she followed it with her rifle even as she lay on the floor.

It was the same damn thing she'd seen in the outpost in that first month, this time standing there clear as day. Humanoid, but quickly dissipating into that specter she'd seen before.

Instinct slammed into her head, and she aimed the rifle. Squeezing the trigger, a long burst flew out and connected.

The 7.62 bullets seemed to have an effect. The creature or whatever it was shirked back as if hurt, and quickly faded into the background of the jungle.

Alicia groaned as she got up and tried to track her attacker… but with no success. Whatever it was it had attacked them and…

_Cadman!_

She turned around and looked. Cadman lay pinned under a tree with her eyes closed, her equipment pack broken and in shreds. It seemed she only caught a part of whatever hit her and the rest had broken enough of the small tree to have it fall precisely across her upper body. Talk about bad luck.

Panic immediately tried to set in, but Alicia wouldn't let it control her. She rushed towards Cadman to cover her and scanned the surrounding area. Nothing… this thing was fast, strong, and bullet resistant. She risked letting go of her weapon to click her radio. "This is Vega! Cadman is down! We're under fire by unknown assailant! Looks like the thing from the outpost over!"

A second passed, and Sam's tense voice came through. "_Can you get through the gate?"_

"Yes ma'am but Cadman is pinned under a tree! I think she's still alive but we need medics and reinforcements!"

Another sound, a rustling in the leaves this time. Alicia didn't hesitate and swung around to take a snap shot.

It paid off as the creature took another burst and let out a cry of what sounded like pain and fell back somewhat. It seemed the heavier 7.62x51mm NATO rounds had a _much_ better effect than the 5.7mm of the P90.

Alicia kept darting around quickly, randomly… that and her heavy weapon would have to do for now, and hopefully whatever the hell had shot Cadman took a long time to…

Again she was knocked over by what felt like a shockwave. Sounds of wood shattering and a dull thump told her it was a miss… but just barely. She felt the sharp pain of rolling on the uneven ground but quickly bounced back and tried to follow the trail.

Alicia screamed into the radio for heavy weapons and fired another burst at some movement ahead. If this thing wanted to play cat and mouse, she sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Really? I thought you two were doing pretty good actually."

Ronon growled softly and rubbed his face. "Good? If we were on Sateda we'd be married a _long_ time ago."

John chuckled and looked over at Ronon leaning on the balcony railing. It struck him dumbfounded that Ronon could be this blue. "Come on… it's not like she doesn't like you."

A grunt, and a verbal reply. "That's just it. I know you people aren't as bad as the Travelers, but I feel so dishonorable; you don't sleep with a woman and not take her as a wife."

John shrugged. "People on Earth do that all the time."

"We're not _on_ Earth are we?"

No real reply could be given to that, and Ronon sighed harshly. "I went into this whole thing knowing you people think differently. I _compromised_ without even trying…_"_

Now John understood. Ronon wasn't the kind of man to compromise easily. "… Have you talked to her about this?"

A snort, and Ronon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What do you think?" Silence between the two men. Just a moment of reflection on everything happening to them. Ronon broke it with a sigh. "You know… we've changed. it's been almost 10 years since I lost my planet and…"

John remained quiet, simply listening to Ronon's calm yet powerful emotions. It wasn't often John saw the man like this and he didn't like it.

"… and I don't know what to do. When you told me we were leaving Pegasus, all I could think about was no more Wraith. No more death… " Ronon winced and his fists clenched. "… never thought I'd miss it."

John could understand… Ronon had lost his purpose for living. So many years fighting the Wraith and of course he'd get accustomed to it. 5 months and change in this galaxy and John could see everyone was feeling the depression. "… so you want something more with her?"

Ronon scoffed and chuckled. "I thought so. I… I wanted to move on. No more Wraith, maybe I could start living you know?" He turned to John and gave him a slightly maudlin face. "We're not living, I love her and all… but…"

It was probably the hardest thing Ronon had ever had to say. John certainly knew what it was like to have to bury feelings in order to remain strong in combat… in war. "…I don't know what to tell you…"

"I know…" Ronon gave John a piercing glare. "You've changed too. You'd never talk to me about this shit before… _you're weak."_

John felt as if he should be offended, but he knew it was true. "We both are…" John knew damn well why he was weak… why he'd broken down and turned to a goddamn bottle of scotch that night… why he and Sam spent weeks not talking… and now he just didn't know what to do.

Ronon mused harshly. "I hate what I've become."

Agreeing, John had just decided to tell Ronon about Rodney… something that perhaps he should have done a long time ago. But before he could even say anything, an alarm began to sound. His headset rang a moment later. "_John! This is Sam! We need you in the control room now!"_

Ronon heard it too, and the near panic in Sam's voice tensed him. John spat back as he moved out from the balcony with Ronon in tow. "What is it?!"

"_Vega and Cadman are under attack offworld! They need help!"_

John winced hard, forcing those goddamn feelings he'd developed down… deep into the vault of his emotional turmoil. He'd buried his Dad… he's buried Nancy…. Hell he'd even buried Sam. He was _not_ going to let his feeling cloud his judgment… Not when his family was threatened. "Copy! We're going there now!"

Unprepared, unequipped, and without knowing what the hell was going on, John looked to Ronon and with a simple nod confirmed it.

They were going to go and try and win back what they'd lost.

-----------------**To be Continued**--------------------

_A/N: Yes yes I'm evil :P But you won't have to wait a week for the conclusion to "Contact Pt 1" :P it'll probably come out either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Which will mean Contact Pt 2 will begin next Monday, with same release speed, all culminating with Contact Pt 3 and into the second half of the season (just like the real show, I'll be taking a little break after Contact pt 3 to recharge)_


	10. Contact Part 1 Second Half

-------------------------Chapter 3 -----------------------------

Dusty was furious as all hell. Seeing the gate shut down and losing radio contact had nearly made her snap. Her only consolation was that Alicia's last transmission begged for heavy weapons.

Sam had shown her ability to think clearly in a crisis and quickly ordered a heavy weapon's package from the jumper bay. Several Security guards had already brought back SCARs and boxes of shotguns and a few even lugged AT-4s.

It only took a minute and a half, and already the connection to the gate was being reestablished. Dusty and Drake were both panting like wolves, furious that they'd come through before the action started.

Sam watched as John and Ronon moved into the gate room, both screaming for weapons.

Nothing made her prouder than John looking up to her and nodding gently. With the single movement, he promised what he always did… to deliver.

* * *

Alicia was exhausted. Constantly running around, reloading, and on one occasion even running into a tree had depleted her reserves.

That weapon the thing was using was powerful, it shredded the bark completely off the trees it hit, tore gouges out of rocks, and sizzled the air as it shot past.

Alicia's only relief was that if she kept moving, it couldn't track her. But that quickly became a problem as well.

Like right now, as the creature snapped its arm at her and sent her flying back towards the gate.

It was toying with her she now realized. At the speeds it could move and strength it just displayed, it could have broken her in half with ease. She groaned loudly as she landed, hit the back of her head against the ground, and felt the world go skewy.

Alicia didn't want to die, but she knew it was perfectly possible now. She unloaded her last clip towards the creature, fully half her shots clean misses but Alicia didn't care. She would _not go gentle into this good night!_

As confused as she was from the exhaustion mixed with what she guessed was a minor concussion, she flailed about as she heard shots ring out and a hand pull her away.

"_Leese! Stay down!"_

John… it had to be. He was the _only_ one she allowed to call her that.

* * *

The rescue team moved through the gate quickly, and John wasn't surprised that even some of the on-duty Traveler guards moved through as well.

John had his rifle up and eyes down the Iron Sights even as he stepped out, he saw Vega on the floor groaning loudly in pain right in front of the gate. A black hazy creature… it could have been the same one they'd run into before and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

No hesitation, he screamed in rage and held the trigger down. The heavy rounds sparked as the bounced off the creature, letting out a hissing cry as it fell back at incredible speed.

The rest of his team, almost a dozen in total quickly moved forward and took cover. He let his gun hang by the sling, and with a motion of his hand gave Ronon command. He pulled on Alicia's collar to drag her out of the line of fire. _"Leese! Stay down!"_

She groaned loudly in pain again, fighting him even as he dragged her behind a large rock next to the DHD for cover.

He propped her up and waved to a few men to go see to Cadman, John wanted to check the Captain out as well but he needed a sitrep before anything else. "Leese! Talk to me!"

Alicia panted, her skin was slick with sweat and temple bleeding. Her jaw trembled in both rage and fear. "_Can't… kill it…"_

He needed more than that. He needed…

A whoosh sound, and a pair of screams. Two of the Traveler Guards suddenly lifted into the air and flew back into the brush. John saw what looked like a vapor trail and followed it back.

The Creature was in a tree with what looked like an arm outstretched, it was definitely humanoid, and with unbelievable speed, it jumped away and tried to run. John didn't hesitate with his order _"Fire!"_

The 4 men who weren't busy helping Cadman along with Dusty, Ronon and Drake all fired their weapons turning the Jungle into a giant meat shredder. Heavy 7.62 rounds tore the brush and trees apart sending shrapnel and debris all over.

It jumped around almost inhumanly, breaking branches as if they were just wists of smoke in its path. The strange blur of the assailant was odd as well. Sort of as if John could see through it but at the same time, he could see motion.

Despite being hard to track, the creature took hits; the sounds of ricocheting bullets unmistakable. Drake suddenly cursed as he fell to his knees holding his chest, a ricochet had bounced back and gotten him right in the vest. Despite his cry of pain, the Kevlar held though, and with a pained grimace he raised his rifle aloft still trying to track the creature.

Alicia's hand suddenly grabbed John's collar and pulled him close. "_Evasive…! Dodge it…! 15 seconds!"_

Now John had what he needed. He nodded to her and knew what he had to do. John raised his gun and rushed out into the Jungle to join the rest of the team. "Keep moving! It fires every 15 seconds!"

Some of the team understood, but some didn't. the 15 seconds passed much too soon and another vapor trail connected. This one hit Ronon dead center and sent him toppling back towards the Stargate in the manner a child knocks back a toy in anger.

John didn't have time to worry that Ronon might die from being thrown into the matter stream. This engagement had gone south almost instantly and they needed to end it.

The creature again zoomed around, almost as fast as a drone would circling a hive. It seemed impervious to their small arms fire but John _knew_ he'd heard cries of pain. They _had_ to kill this thing!

One of the wounded Travelers got back up, his mouth bloody and uniform shredded from falling into the brush. His eyes were infuriated as he limped back into the fight. He held an AT-4-CS on his shoulder and aimed shakily.

John saw him and screamed as he yanked Dusty to the ground with him. "_Hit the Deck!"_

The AT-4-CS erupted with a loud whoosh, much louder and grittier than whatever was shooting at them. John used his own arm to cover Dusty as the shockwave from the rocket washed over them.

The rocket flew hard and fast, but to John's amazement, the creature jumped out of the way and avoided the majority of the blast. Broken and shattered pieces of foliage and bark rained down on them, one even getting close enough to his eye to make him involuntarily wipe it off.

What should have been a quick rescue mission had quickly turned into a meat grinder, and John just didn't understand why this thing wasn't dying. A tactical retreat seemed the most prudent thing now.

Getting up, John relieved one of the worse off Travelers of his Benelli M4 Super 90 Shotgun, John only hoped the heavier rounds had a better effect.

The gate suddenly deactivated, and he screamed at the Travelers who had now gotten Cadman free. _"Dial the gate! Dial the gate!" _

He motioned with his body to Dusty, Drake, and the remaining Travelers who weren't out of the fight. They moved ahead erratically, firing at any movement ahead of them.

Another whoosh 15 seconds later, this time knocking Dusty down as it barely missed her, John was amazed at the way she rolled on the ground and repressed the groan from landing on some dull rocks.

John tracked the vapor trail, and saw what looked like a foot heading his way. Not too surprisingly, it turned out to _be_ a foot, and he crumpled from the shockingly strong hit to his chest. He'd likely bruised if not broken some ribs, and for a second his concentration eroded as the wind was knocked out of him.

Crumpled up on the ground, John took a second and banished the pain; he forced his body to act even though it screamed for mercy. His threshold hadn't been reached yet, and until it did, he'd keep on fighting. He could feel the veins on his neck and face pulsate as he forced his head to look towards the creature as he struggled to regain his breath.

The creature darted between the rest of his team like a ping pong ball, easily swatting them out of the way like ragdolls. Men and women screamed as they took hits, almost like being hit with a car. The creature seemed to be heading to the DHD and nothing appeared capable of stopping it.

John wished for another AT-4-CS, or better yet a Javelin, but right now, he'd settle for the double vision in his eyes to go away.

Rolling over and forcing his body to act, he was on his knees when he saw it.

The creature had almost reached the DHD when a red particle magnum bolt came from the side and slammed into it. A piercing shriek emitted from it, and the haziness disappeared. It was humanoid alright, and as John stepped forward it fell to its knees.

Another bolt slammed into its chest, and it shuddered about as if in great pain. Whatever this thing was, it was vulnerable, and John meant to take full advantage of that.

It still wasn't down, and he could see now that of all people it was Cadman firing, blood seeping from her eyes, mouth and face in a agonizing grimace. She pulled the trigger as hard and fast as she could and shot after shot nailed the creature.

John didn't even bother trying to make out exactly what it was but he raised his shotgun and screamed as he unleashed the last 3 shells in the magazine.

Much more effect, and the creature spasmed from the sudden combined fire of his shotgun along with 3 SCARs and a Particle Magnum. Sparks flew off the creature from the bullets and pellets, but it jerked with every hit.

Finally, after what had to be hundreds of bullets, 12 gauge shells and almost a dozen particle shots, it fell forwards onto its face and lay still… either dead or unconscious.

John realized he was still breathing raggedly and tasting copper. And looking around he saw the rest of the team in similar condition, no one had gotten through unscathed and they'd _all _ be seeing the inside of the infirmary.

Dusty breathed hard and held her side, bruised from landing on a rock. Drake's lips trembled in pain as he gingerly touched his likely broken rib.

The Travelers were in similar conditions, lots of bruising from being smacked around, though two had more severe broken bones.

Alicia had gotten up again, limping and now moving towards Cadman to see to her, John couldn't help but feel pride that she put her subordinates above her own health… something he felt many of the commanders he'd had were lacking… at least before Atlantis.

The badly injured Captain had to be helped to even walk, and she dropped the particle magnum to the floor as she lost consciousness again and went limp.

John quickly rushed over to Ronon who lay sprawled out in front of the gate, he was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. He'd likely gotten a concussion and god knows what else.

Through some miracle, no one had died. But John knew that given the abilities he'd seen the now still and silent humanoid, it could have easily been the other way around.

Whatever this thing was, it was coming back with them… and if it was still alive. It was going to _pay._

--------------------------Chapter 4----------------------------

Sam was horrified at the state of the team coming back. When John had almost mumbled through the radio that they needed medical teams in the gate room, she had no idea they'd need the entire infirmary.

She rushed down the stairs to the gateroom at top speed, the medics taking care of the more critically injured and putting them on stretchers.

Seeing John and Alicia both hefting a slowly regaining consciousness Ronon was heart stopping. It came back when she saw a broken Cadman trembling on a stretcher as the medics began to treat her.

Nobody came back unscathed, and a trio of the least injured Travelers along with Dusty dragged a large black colored humanoid through the gate. "What happened?"

Alicia turned and nearly spit at the thing. "Wouldn't die… it shot Cadman with this cannon thing. Dunno what it was."

John nodded and shook Ronon a bit. "Whatever it was it even kicked Ronon's ass."

The Satedan growled and pushed away from them, It was obvious he was _very_ angry that he'd taken fire. He wobbled about before moving off in Dusty's direction

Sam simply looked to the entire group, and finally her eyes settled on the attacker. "How'd you stop it then?"

Dusty moved forward still limping, the side of her face was dirty with mud and she wiped away at it with scraped hands. "Particle magnum… thing took all the bullets we had and even dodged an AT-4, but looks like that armor doesn't protect from energy weapons."

Curious, Sam moved forward seeing the team spread out. Larrin was getting reports from the others and ensuring everyone else was okay, So Sam took the lead and examined the black creature.

As it turned out, the black was just a color. In fact, it almost looked like a flat metallic black. "Is it dead?"

John limped over, now helping Alicia as they had both taken a severe beating. "Is it even alive?"

Sam took a few seconds to think. This thing reminded her of the Kull Warriors back in the Milky Way… a bad memory resurfaced, one of those things that she'd buried a long time ago. "We should get this under a scanner. Figure out what it is."

Feeling relieved at being alive, John felt the need to try to lighten such a dark mood. "Not before us… feel like I've been hit with a dump truck."

Sam winced and shook her head idly. Whatever this thing was, they would soon find out.

* * *

Alicia had seen John without a shirt before, but no matter how much control she had, seeing the foot shaped bruise on his chest did less for her libido than she'd originally hoped. "Sir?"

John turned from examining the injuries list and nodded. "Leese… you doing alright?"

She nodded, her head had been bandaged and she knew she must look oddly comical. "Yeah… Reyna says it's a mild concussion. Few days off tops."

A nod and wince as the Traveler medic wrapped a bandage around John's torso. "Ow… yeah… they tell me the same." A moment passed and John continued. "Any idea what that thing is yet?"

Now a shake of her head. Alicia admittedly hadn't been too worried as she spent her time going from person to person on her team making sure they were okay. "No… haven't checked. Cadman's in pretty bad shape. Broken collar bone, punctured lung… she's lucky we got her back here so soon."

John nodded, and remembered what he'd seen. "We're lucky she's tougher than she looks."

Both soldiers were quiet a moment. It truly had been a close call. Interrupting them though, Reyna appeared wearing her doctor's clothing. 'Hey, I know Carson wants both of you to stay put, but Sam and Larrin are in the isolation lab with Radek taking a look at that thing you brought back. I'm heading down there myself."

Both Alicia and John nodded. It was time to figure out what the hell that thing was.

* * *

"Our scanners are so far unable to penetrate the outer layer… there appears to be a magnetic field surrounding the creature."

Sam furrowed her brow at Radek's explanation, she'd never heard of this before. "A magnetic field? How strong?"

To the side, Mila used a little hammer to tap on the creature. It was the oddest thing any of them had ever seen, at least until Mila explained. "The field gets stronger whenever something hits it. I think it's adaptive armor."

The adults all looked at each other. Sam knew a thing or two about ballistics but it wasn't exactly her field. "Can you explain that?"

Sa Mila began to speak up, Reyna, John and Alicia walked, or rather limped into the room. "Well… it's like a shield that only turns on when something hits it."

Radek scratched his hairline as John and Vega both took positions near Sam. A pair of Traveler guards with their particle magnums at the ready. "A meta material?" Everyone in the room except Sam blinked in confusion. Radek saw that he'd have to explain. "A meta material is a manufactured material designed with a specific purpose in mind. Superconductivity, heat resistance, or in this case…." He motioned to the still encapsulated metal figure. "…ballistics material."

Sam nodded and decided to try and explain it more layman, Years of dealing with Daniel and Jack had paid off. "I've heard of that. Nano-materials that use non-Newtonian fluidic properties." Still no one understood, so Sam dumbed it down to extreme levels. "Okay… think of it this way. Corn starch, it makes water into this messy goop right?"

Alicia suddenly got it. "Oh you mean like Mythbusters did!"

Sam smiled. "You saw that episode?"

Shrugging, Alicia nodded. "Actually I hated them at first, but Chuck keeps setting up movie nights and I kinda like it now."

John didn't understand _what_ the hell was going on, and he looked to Larrin. She simply rolled her eyes and elbowed Sam. "Alright alright. It's complicated, we get it. Now how the hell do we break through?"

Mila sighed and scratched her head in much the same way Radek often did. "Well it's not a _meta_ material. It's Trinium. It's just being held in place with a magnetic field."

Again, only the scientifically minded understood. Sam took a step closer and looked carefully.

If she didn't know better, this thing would almost look like the blob. It was a complete flat black with no seams or even texture to it. Just flat smooth material. "Radek… do you think we can use a magnetic field of our own to try and counteract this?"

John stood over the body and knocked on it. The metallic ring was eerie. "Can't we just cut it open?"

Radek shook his head to John but scratched his chin. "No Colonel… the very properties of this magnetic field make it so any attempt to penetrate will only cause the affected areas to harden. That is why your bullets did no appreciable damage. I imagine whoever was inside got quite the jolt, but you could shoot at this armor for hours on end and as long as that magnetic field is active, only the kinetic energy will be transferred."

Alicia clicked her tongue a few times and nodded. It was simple enough language that she understood. "So the heavier bullets had a better effect?"

Sam nodded and her eyes seemed to brighten. "5.7 rounds only have about 300 joules of force. A 7.62 NATO has something like 2000 joules." She turned to Radek again. "Do you think if we connected a Naquadah Generator to a…?"

Holding his finger up, Radek interrupted with a smile. "Yes yes I was _just_ thinking that! I'll get what we need!"

John was again confused, but this time it was Larrin who spoke up in mild irritation. "Mind filling the non-scientists in?"

"Basically because this shell is being held in place by a magnetic field, we're going to use another one to _shove_ it out of the way." It was a pretty simply theory, and finally everyone understood what was happening.

John groaned softly and rubbed his chest softly. "Couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"

Sam smiled softly. Despite everything, John still made her laugh on occasion. "I'll try and remember for next time."

* * *

John and Alicia weren't about to take any chances, and everyone in the room had been issued Particle Magnums. Cadman had inadvertently used the stun setting so that's what they all did now. "Ready Radek?"

The scruffy looking scientist nodded. "Yes… Mila will be controlling the magnetic coils."

John and Alicia simply watched through the glass with their holsters opened.

The procedure went ahead without any glitches, the magnetic field in the isolation room began to grow. Sam watched the screen as the sensors picked up the opposing magnetic forces. "Turn it up higher and focus on the head Mila… we're not having much effect."

The screen continued to show the bubbles pressing against each other, slowly but surely, the one being generated by the magnetic coils that stood almost like towers began to push away at the encased field. "Look at _that!_ It's like the T-1000!"

Sam winced at Alicia's muttering, but to the layman it really did look like that. The flat black morphed into the typical silvery of Trinium, slowly morphing like the anthropomorphized killing machine himself.

Reyna who stood with a guard protecting her shone a light onto the exposed area. The camera zoomed in and the entire group gasped at what was underneath.

A woman in her mid-twenties was inside, obviously unconscious, but with an eyepiece over her face that looked electronic. John was the first to speak. "What the hell? I thought we were the only humans in this galaxy."

Larrin stared hard and mused quietly. "Apparently not."

Peering at the screen, Sam smiled. "Our scans are getting in now… she's wearing some kind of backpack that's emitting the magnetic field. If we can get to it, we can shut it off and get her out of that armor." Sam then tapped on her headset and spoke with conviction. "Daniel Jackson please come in."

Below them, Radek instructed Mila with a more focused approach to the magnetic field. Alicia grimaced thinking about how it would feel to be trapped inside that thing. "Why'd you call Daniel, Ma'am?"

Sam looked down at the slowly dissolving suit; the woman was wearing what looked to be a white robe underneath. It looked oddly familiar to… "Daniel's a cultural expert and has handled dozens of first contact situations with me on SG1. It's obvious that whoever that is…" she motioned to the woman. "… she's not going to like that we've 'captured' her so I'd rather try and reason with her before she freaks out."

Larrin scoffed softly. "So you're going to tempt her with Daniel's cute face? Not bad… reminds me of when I first met you Sheppard."

Both Sam and Alicia turned to him and smiled deviously. As usual, John had somehow ended up on the wrong end of a teasing game. "Oh come on! You _bit_ me!"

------------------------Chapter 5-----------------------------

Daniel nodded to Reyna and shook his head idly at the trio of guards around him. Okay, this woman had made an entire squad of Marines, Air Force personnel and Travelers look like a bunch of incompetent fools, but without that armor it wasn't likely she'd be capable of much.

Then again, Daniel recalled Khalek and the almost disaster _that_ turned into. "Alright Rey… I think you can wake her."

Reyna nodded and injected a mild stimulant into the IV leading to the woman's arm. Daniel had to admit, he was excited over who this might be. With the entire command staff behind the guards, it was a packed infirmary.

She had the Ancient Gene, that much was known. But without talking to her or subjecting her to tests that Carson wasn't comfortable doing without her consent _(although Reyna had quietly said she wasn't opposed and that kind of creeped Daniel out) _ there was no way to know any details about her other than her looks.

On that note, Daniel had to admit she was quite attractive. Mid to late twenties he'd say… she obviously worked out as her muscles were toned and lean _(though nowhere near as big as his were from his bi-weekly workout sessions with Teyla, Daniel had little doubt she could kick his ass even without her armor) _and her face had a sort of chiseled beauty to it.

She reminded him of Morgan Le Fey… A strange air about her very appearance. "Hello? Wakey wakey."

The woman stirred at his words. Thanks to that stargate Universal Translator thing _(which he wasn't sure exactly how it worked, even Sam was confused over it) _he was pretty sure she'd understand him _(Unless she spoke Goa'uld or Unas)_.

Reyna moved back, the Traveler Doctor nodded to the guard next to her and took a covered position. "She'll feel pretty drowsy, but you' should be able to speak to her." She smiled sweetly and almost shyly _(Something he knew Reyna wasn't) _ at Daniel and again, the alien women rule Jack had christened him with came to mind.

The woman had dark red hair, her skin was lightly tanned and as she opened her eyes, Daniel saw they were dark hazel.

To everyone's surprised though, she quickly became alert and sat up straight. Daniel held his hands out and cried. "Whoa whoa whoa! It's okay! You're okay… we're not going to hurt you…"

The woman seemed to quickly recover from the stun effects and looked at Daniel with a half-fearful half-enraged look. "Where am I… Who are you?!"

Daniel tried to look as nonthreatening as possible, but seeing how she looked at all the guns pointed at her, realized it was futile. "We won't hurt you! Just calm down… you're safe."

She then started patting herself down, obviously searching for the armor and robes she'd had on previous. "What have you done? I demand to know where my armor is!"

Standard response, Daniel tried to keep looking calm but it took more effort than he wished it would. He looked over at John who remained to the side quiet before replying. "We were afraid of what you were capable of doing in it and we wanted to talk… we haven't stolen it."

She narrowed her eyes and hissed. "You will return it this instant!"

John snorted softly, regretted it from the pain in his chest and deadpanned. "Not gonna happen."

The woman turned to him and narrowed her eyes accusingly. "_You…_ How dare you soil yourself with these…" she turned to Daniel and had she the strength would have spit. "_…primates."_

Daniel felt offended, but he didn't let it show. "Perhaps you can explain that… we're not going to hurt you… we just want to know why you attacked us."

The woman looked around the architecture of the infirmary and swung her legs out of the bed and onto the floor. The Traveler guards moved forward with their guns drawn. "Hold it!"

Stopping, the woman growled softly. "You have taken an outpost of the Alterra for your own… you will regret it."

Daniel's eyes went wide, and he could almost hear Sam's mental cry of shock. "_Alterra?_ You know of them?"

The woman kept her defiant posture and started back at Daniel. "I will answer no more questions. My people will come for me."

Daniel saw that the crowd was making her defensive. Without her armor though, he could tell that she was intimidated. It struck him odd though… the way she hid her fear, but it wasn't specifically about them. "Uhh hey listen guys?" he turned to the entire group and nodded. "Do you think you could give me and our guest a little privacy? Maybe give her her clothes back?"

Sam moved forward slightly, and looking at the guards around them all nodded gently. Everyone except for Sam moved away, one guard remaining off to the side away from them.

The woman seemed to respond to the trust, and she looked around the infirmary curiously. "You will tell me where I am."

Daniel nodded and looked to Sam. "Since you know the Alterra… maybe you know what Atlantis is."

A scoff left the woman's mouth and she took her clothes from Sam's extended arms. "You will leave the children's stories to the ignorant and be truthful. Or I shall indeed bring the force of the Olim down on you."

Sam and Daniel looked to each other again, they used facial tics and minute muscle motions to communicate their plan of action. Daniel turned back and deadpanned. "_Olim?_"

The woman narrowed her eyes again and to Daniel and Sam's surprise, took her scrubs off exposing her bare skin underneath. Both Lanteans obscured their eyes to give her the _semblance_ of privacy, but she paid little heed to it. "We are the children of the Alterra. They have left us the responsibility of this Galaxy. You will return my armor and return me to my people or suffer the consequences."

Sam hazarded a look through her fingers and was glad that the show was over. The white robes looked oddly similar to what she'd heard the Lanteans aboard the Tria had used. "I'm sorry, I cannot return your armor until I'm satisfied you won't try and attack us again."

The woman laughed now, an odd reaction to Sam and Daniel. "I could have killed your entire team without a care… the only reason I am here is that fiendish weapon the one you call _"Cadman"_ used." She slinked her feet into her boots and pulled her hair back.

Sam had to admit, she'd never seen a prisoner so defiant before… Well… Except for Jack but that was different. "You hunted and nearly killed almost a dozen of my people. _Cadman_ is severely injured and many of those you _could_ have killed will be under medical care for weeks. I think I've shown considerable restraint in not simply throwing you in a cell to rot."

Daniel turned his head slightly and knew Sam wasn't completely bluffing. He'd seen her get mad and it wasn't nearly as pretty as she was. "I think maybe we should start with why you were tracking our team… you could have just said hello."

The woman turned to the Traveler guard who still had his weapon drawn. She seemed to understand that she was stuck here for the time being. "The longer you detain me, the harsher the retribution shall be."

Daniel resisted groaning. This was going to take some time and as attractive as the woman was, he was sick and tired of inadvertently seducing alien women to get out of stick situations. "Fine… how about your name? Can we start there? I'm Daniel and this is Sam."

Holding his hand out, Daniel tried to give his most warm smile. The woman looked him up and down, as if examining him for something he couldn't see. She then took Daniel's hand in a strange manner, hooking her fingers opposite his in a handshake involving their knuckles. "I am called Aquilina… and I sense you speak the truth."

Daniel resisted wincing, He knew somewhere, in some galaxy more than a half a million light years away, Jack O'Neill was laughing his ass off.

* * *

**TEASER FOR EPISODE 10 – Contact Part 2 (Release on Monday)**

**Episode 10 – Contact Part 2**

158 days in Hoag's Object.

--------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell:** You need the ATA gene naturally in order to use this thing.

**Radek Zelenka:** More than that actually, the interface requires a significant neural output. From our records, only Colonel Sheppard, Dr Beckett and Major Vega would be able to use such a technology… and even they would have problems controlling it.

**Dusty Mehra:** Great. As if that bitch spitting whenever she sees us didn't make me feel _primitive_ enough.

**Reyna Arius:** Oh don't worry about it. Without her suit, she's basically the same as Colonel Sheppard in practical terms except for a little empathy.

**Chuck Campbell:** So she can sense what we're feeling, like Troi?

**Dusty Mehra:** That's oddly reassuring.

**Reyna Arius:** Yes Chuck, and enough with the Star Trek, I told you I don't get it.

------------------------------------------------


	11. Contact Part 2 First Third

**Episode 10 – Contact Part 2**

159 days in Hoag's Object.

--------------------------------

_**A/N:** Okay… this is the BIGGEST episode to date. (around 17K words) and as such, will be released at a third every 2 days (so Monday, Wednesday, Friday)  
_

_In total, the Contact Three Parter is around 40K words total. It's** huge**, but it's A LOT of everything._

_So I hope y'all enjoy this! I'll be taking a break once I'm done posting all of Episode 11 (this is A LOT of writing :P)_

_I do ask you to review, how else am I supposed to know people reading this are enjoying or disliking this? You took the time to read it, so please take the time to review, even a few sentences is better than nothing!_

_Acknowledgement go out to **TheIceMenace** for keeping me tethered to reality and proofreading(Her exact words were... "_Have I ever mentioned that you suck at punctuation?"_.  
She also quite literally SAVED about 10k words that were accidentally deleted from my computer, so BIG Thanks to her :D make sure to check out her story "**Chuck's Canadian Crime Connection**" if you enjoy a good sitcom laugh :P_

_**TheLegate** on or **Lantean General** on Gateworld for his thoughts and suggestions on this and the next episode. He's got his own series going, "**Stargate: Aurora**" that deals with the Wraith Lantean war and is __**very** well written and quite intricately deep :D There is a very minor crossover with "**SG: Aurora**" in this episode but you'd have to read his to get it ;) _

_**Alx Shipyards** for his consistent support and many many many X100 discussions regarding this fic and Stargate. He does some pretty impressive 3d modeling and animations so make sure to check him out on Gateworld. He also betaed a part of the next episode :)_

_A big thanks to **Rudy Pena** for technical information as well as first hand accounts of certain...__events that happen in this episode and the next.  
_

_And finally, Thank you **all** for reading! I'm so honored that you've been keeping up with me and enjoying this fic. I'd love to hear from every one of you as to what you like, dislike, or even just a hi! :D_

-------------------------------

**Chuck Campbell:** You need the ATA gene naturally in order to use this thing.

**Radek Zelenka:** More than that actually, the interface requires a significant neural output. From our records, only Colonel Sheppard, Dr Beckett and Major Vega would be able to use such a technology… and even they would have problems controlling it.

**Dusty Mehra:** Great. As if that bitch spitting whenever she sees us didn't make me feel primitive enough.

**Reyna Arius:** Oh don't worry about it. Without her suit, she's basically the same as Colonel Sheppard in practical terms except for a little empathy.

**Chuck Campbell:** So she can sense what we're feeling, like Troi?

**Dusty Mehra:** That's oddly reassuring.

**Reyna Arius:** Yes Chuck, and enough with the Star Trek, I told you I don't get it.

------------------------------------------------

Apart from the splitting headache and the tender bruise just below her left boob from landing on a rock, Dusty was actually feeling pretty good.

Even more so than just feeling good, she felt vindicated that they'd actually won. That _bitch,_ as pretty much everyone but Daniel and Carter had been calling her, walked around like she owned the place. Even more, she'd look down on everyone else as if they were, in _her_ words_, _inferior.

It felt so good to be useful again, not just some random soldier who spent most of her time looking for things to do.

In fact, the only thing that _really_ pissed her off was the way Daniel and Sam were trying to _make peace with her!_ The… _urrgghhh…_ Dusty _hated_ sounding like a broken record…but how many different versions of the word _'bitch'_ were there!?

At least everyone was going to be okay. Two of the Travelers had broken bones and would be out of it for a few weeks, but both were pleased that their first real action hadn't seen any permanent injuries or casualties and ended in victory.

It almost wasn't that way. Dusty was actually on her way to get the details, but Cadman had cut it close. Dusty figured it was the inner Marine in her that had kept her alive despite such a harsh wound.

Dusty wasn't too surprised to see Chuck in the room with Cadman. Carson had his hands full and Dusty had noticed the doctor acting out in his words. Some of that warmth that she'd heard about from all her friends seemed to have frozen over…a sad thought from someone like that.

Chuck did some odd motion with his hand and finger and Dusty could hear Cadman's hoarse laugh. The '_older-than-I-look'_ Lieutenant noticed Dusty and motioned with his head. "Hey, Dusty! Come on. Gotta cheer Boom Boom up!"

Cadman coughed as she tried to resist laughing. Dusty couldn't believe that the Captain was in such high spirits despite her grievous injuries. "Keep calling me that and I'll _boom boom_ your toilet."

Dusty rolled her eyes as she sat down. Chuck seemed unafraid. "That's if you can get in. I'll just put a heavy lockdown on the door."

"Who said I'd go in the _normal _way? If I'm gonna blow up your toilet so who says I won't blow up your door?"

The three soldiers chuckled, and Dusty sighed softly. Cadman was always so nice, and it hurt to think that she'd been the worst off on the latest mission. "Do you have something against the doors in this place? I remember Ronon telling me once you blew like 5 doors in one day."

Chuck raised his eyebrows and sat back on the opposite side of Dusty. "I remember that. The Quarantine."

Cadman nodded, and groaned softly as she shifted in the bed. "Mmm… I 'member Radek's face when I blew a door off its hinges… never wanted to laugh so hard." Cadman coughed once, winced then looked to Chuck.

The Canadian Lieutenant seemed to understand right away what she was about to say and preempted it. "Hey hey… you're not getting up anytime soon. Carson'll _kill_ you if you do then come after _me_ so you're staying put. Whaddya need?"

Laura smiled and mused. "See what Carson says I can eat? Starving."

Chuck wasn't a fool and could see Laura wanted some girl time. He played dumb though and nodded. "Sure thing…." He turned to Dusty. "Stay till I come back? Carson and Rey put a 24 hour watch on her."

Laura raised her hand with a middle finger up. "Hel_lo. _Sitting right here?" Instead of feeling offended, Chuck just laughed and motioned to Dusty. The Sergeant nodded and watched Chuck move off. Laura snickered once, winced softly and let her head rest back. "Thanks Dusty. I know I tease but I really do need someone around…" she lifted her shirt a bit and winced.

Dusty grimaced as she saw the tender bruising along Laura's body along with a recently stitched scar, but what really squicked her out was the tube sticking out from just below Laura's right breast which Dusty had assumed was an IV, but turned out to be a catheter. "Punctured a lung… hard to breath and well… I'm tough but I'm not stupid. Ol' Mountie there's been a huge help."

Dusty snickered and teased softly. "_Mountie?_ Since when do you have pet names?"

Laura rolled her eyes and smiled. "They're not _pet names!_ It's our _band._ Mountie and a Boom Boom."

Dusty laughed out loud, "Ha! Are you serious? That's terrible!"

"Well of course! It's _meant_ to be." Laura tried to control her laughter and took as deep breaths as she could, the heart rate monitor on the side of the bed began to climb and Dusty became worried.

"Okay. Okay. I think that's enough excitement." Dusty patted Laura on the shoulder and sat back down. "It's good that Chuck's taking some time to keep you company. Ever since we brought that…" Dusty lost her smile and glowered. "_…bitch…_back here it's been pretty hectic all around."

Laura nodded and her heart rate steady dropped back to normal as she took calming slightly pained breaths. "Yeah, I'm sure Ronon's pissed he took a hit."

Shrugging nonchalantly, Dusty muttered deadpan. "I wouldn't know."

Furrowing her brow, Laura looked to Dusty and whispered. "I, uh, I thought you two…

Dusty shook her head twice then sighed. "Not anymore."

* * *

John groaned as he touched his tender chest. The footprint Aquilina had left was healing slowly; Reyna had thankfully used a Traveler device to drain the tissue of the pooled blood and seal the damaged blood vessels.

He bowed his head as he thought about how close it had been. Aquilina still refused to answer many questions but as far as he knew, Daniel was having a little success.

"Hey."

John turned and nodded. "Larrin."

The Traveler woman sidled up to John on the balcony. It took a second for him to realize that it was cold, and he just didn't notice it anymore. "Sheppard…" Larrin sighed and shook her head slightly. "You know, my people were around when the Ancestors were still alive, still fighting the Wraith. My great great great times a thousand grandmother was saved by one." John furrowed his brow to her but she held up a hand signaling him to let her finish. "I probably wouldn't have ever existed if not for that Ancestor. She used her abilities to heal her and my ancestor ended up becoming one of the key people to unite us all."

John remained silent a moment then spoke. "Lucky us."

Larrin smirked, and gave John a gentle elbow in the ribs. When he groaned she shirked back and put her arm around him. "Sorry." She sighed again, suddenly very quiet.

"Yeah, no problem." John again rubbed his chest and waited for Larrin to continue. When she didn't, he probed by giving her a gentle shove in retribution. "Well? What is it? You didn't just hunt me down to talk about grandma."

Larrin blew a raspberry at him and leaned on the railing in front of her, "This… Aquilina bitch…" she turned to John. "You_ do_ know just about everyone is calling her that?"

John nodded. "It's a good name."

A soft laugh and Larrin smiled. "Well anyways, my uh... my great grandmother told us how revered some of the Ancestors were. Some of my people used to worship them back then and… well the one who saved my great grandmother told her not to. And ever since my family's always thought of the Ancestors almost like our parents."

John finally caught onto what Larrin was talking about. "So you've heard that Aquilina is almost Lantean."

Larrin nodded. "Yeah.… Yeah and I can't help but think, if that Ancestor was so much more and treated us like equals, why does this bitch have a glow rod stuck up her ass?"

It was a hard question, and John had to answer it the only way he knew how. "Well, I've met my fair share of ancients. Some were even your 'Ancestors' from that time. Every single one of them was arrogant and condescending. These people don't surprise me one bit." He smiled sympathetically and hooked an arm around Larrin. "I can understand why it bothers you though."

Larrin blew a heavy sigh and brushed her free hair away from her face. "A lot of my people want to see if we can trade with them. Real living Ancestors… even if they're not ours."

John shrugged, and shook Larrin a bit in consolation. "Hey, cheer up. We're all alive, and looks like we might have a trade partner. Who knows? They might have the three shells instead of cheap toilet paper."

Furrowing her brow at him like he was insane, Larrin deadpanned. "Three shells? What the hell are you talking about?"

John was about to reply, but then realized that movie night had been mostly the old romance films that had been left from the original expedition. _Who knew Amelia Banks loved Humphrey Bogart?_ "Never mind."

* * *

"So, what've you figured out so far?"

Daniel made careful note to ensure Aquilina was far away and under guard before whispering to Sam. "She's not lying, and she can use ancient technology as well as John, probably better."

Sam turned her head away and cursed softly. "Damn. I was hoping she was exaggerating, but if these people _are_ descended from the Ancients, they'll probably want Atlantis."

Daniel furrowed his brow. "What gave you _that_ idea?" Sam just gave Daniel a look with a smile that said it all. Daniel nodded realizing. "Ah, yes… precedent. Not sure that applies in this case."

Now Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really? What makes you say that?"

Daniel sighed and turned to look at Aquilina again. "She won't say exactly, but I don't think we're dealing with a small group of people. She seems too confident that her people could take us in a fight even after she saw the city."

"You didn't tell her our _defensive _capabilities did you?!"

Now it was Daniel who cocked his head and gave a "_really?"_ look. "Come _on_. I'm not _that_ naïve…anymore." He smirked and Sam smirked back, and gave her a little shove of playfulness. "No. All she knows is we have ancient technology here. She doesn't know we have ships, or even how many people are on the base."

Sam nodded then scratched her nose and blew a sigh. "Do you think you can get anything else out of her?"

Daniel shook his head. "It's been two days, she's getting antsy and I think we should let her contact her people. Set up a meeting so we can make contact official."

A few moments to think, and Sam nodded. "Agreed. Bring her up to the control room in 30 minutes… I need to talk to a few people first."

Daniel narrowed his eyes a bit, but he nodded and moved off. Sam took just a moment to think to herself again then tapped her headset. "Can I have all department heads to the Conference room immediately. All department heads to the conference room on the double."

Sam had a gut feeling this was going to end badly, and it wasn't just the precedent of dealing with Ancients Atlantis had.

* * *

"This is it? A _backpack_?"

Radek rolled his eyes at the comment. "Much more than a backpack Charles, a self-sustained Naquadah reactor and precision electromagnetic coil system!"

Reyna smirked and waved Carson forward, Chuck who was standing off to the side groaned. "Come on, Radek. It's _Chuck."_

Carson scoffed once in mirth as he sat down. "I told you, Lieutenant. Not everyone can be that… _relaxed._ Perhaps I'd start issuing stimulants if I could spare them this place is so laid back!"

The half-jest half-complaint had become standard for Carson. Everyone in the room was feeling that he wasn't enjoying how his new position had him in charge of an understaffed, overworked department. Reyna on the other hand was very used to it and didn't complain at all. Then again, she tended to be more scientific than Carson with such aspects as this; studying the Olim Armor.

Carson sighed softly as he put the backpack on and looked to Reyna. "Is this really necessary? Aren't Colonel Sheppard or Major Vega more adequate for this?"

Reyna smiled and rubbed Carson's shoulder. "Sorry, Carson. This suit seems to only like people who have the gene naturally. Since you're number two behind Colonel Sheppard and neither has time for this…"

Another small groan and Carson adjusted the pack. "Oh, and I _do_?!"

Reyna gave him a smug look back and suppressed a laugh. "Contrary to what we all say you're _not _the only Doctor we have Carson. Besides, I don't think the Colonel or Major are hoping to see this thing anytime soon."

Carson sighed. "Great. As if I didn't have enough on my plate I'm back to being a guinea pig."

Chuck laughed at the Doctor's irreverent behavior. Truth be told the man was often friendly, but with the Infirmary always busy with one thing or another, the 30 strong medical team was having a rough time about it.

Another 40 medics were learning, but they knew nothing of advanced biology, genetics, or all those _wonderful_ things Carson and Reyna had spent their _entire_ _lives_ studying.

Radek spoke rapidly as he handed a scanner to Reyna. "Alright Carson. I want you to try and think of covering your torso with armor."

Carson rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Alright, but I really think…_Ahh!!!"_

To Chuck's amazement, a slivery shine spread out from the sides of the backpack and quickly covered Carson's torso. It almost looked like plate armor from some medieval movie. "Whoa! That's freakin' _**awesome!**"_

Carson was nearly panicking, his tone aghast. "Well, I'm glad _you_ think so, Lieutenant! At least _one of us _should be enjoying this!"

Reyna rolled her eyes and put her hand on Carson's shoulder. "Carson, … calm down.… Let me take a reading and we'll get you out, okay?"

Carson nodded. "_Yes! yes!_ This feels _very_ strange!"

"Describe it."

Shuddering, Carson tried to calm down by breathing. "It feels...it's very close to my skin, I can even…" The armor seemed to expand and contract slowly. "…yes. I can sense it just barely. It's almost as if it reacts to my thoughts."

Reyna continued scanning, and once she was satisfied nodded. "Alright, that's good. You can take it off now."

No sooner than she had finished, the metallic sheen drifted back into the backpack. Carson quickly took it off and shuddered. "That was _very _strange...Can't say as I'd want to do _that_ again."

Chuck snickered and rolled his eyes. "At least you _can_ do that" Remembering why he'd tracked the doctor down, Chuck's shoulders rose in mild surprise. "Oh, wait! Doc, 'fore you run off. Laura wants to know if it's okay for her to eat something. Guess the IV flavoring ran out."

Carson winced and groaned softly. "Uh, yes. I'll see to it immediately." He walked off muttering something about how his staff could perform surgery but couldn't keep patients comfortable.

Chuck looked to Reyna, who after passing the backpack and the scanner to Radek accepted Chuck's hand up. "Is he always like this?"

Reyna pulled herself up and sighed. "No. He's just had a lot on his plate, we all have."

Chuck nodded and helped Reyna clean up the area. He kept an eye on the backpack and didn't even notice the time fly by.

On the other hand, Reyna quickly chatted with Radek about the properties of the armor when she noticed Dusty come in. The sergeant didn't say anything and instead held a finger to her lips for quiet.

Reyna wasn't sure what Dusty wanted to do, but she tapped Radek's shoulder to watch as Dusty crept up behind Chuck.

The Lieutenant poked at the backpack obviously deep in thought, but just as Dusty was about to jump him he raised his head in awareness and said, "Dusty, you grab me, and I'm going to tickle you… _hard._"

The Sergeant visibly deflated. "How the _hell'd_ you know?"

Chuck turned with a smile. "Laura does it all the time. I've had to grow eyes in the back of my head."

Dusty, Reyna and Chuck all laughed at the odd humor but it was more to distract themselves from the recent emergency than actual playfulness.

No sooner had they stopped laughing than Dusty noticed the backpack. "Is that the armor thing that _bitch_ had?"

Radek who had remained quiet up until this point nodded. "Yes, Sergeant. It appears to be a very complicated and advanced piece of technology.

Chuck hooked his thumb at it and deadpanned, "You need the ATA gene naturally in order to use this thing."

Sighing in slight frustration, Radek adjusted his glasses as Dusty neared the device. "More than that actually, the interface requires a significant neural output. From our records, only Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Beckett and Major Vega would be able to use such a technology and even they would have problems controlling it."

With a heavy and exaggerated sigh, Dusty snarked, "Great. As if that_ bitch_ spitting whenever she sees us didn't make me feel primitive enough."

Feeling bad for her friend, Reyna added, "Oh, don't worry about it. Without her suit, she's basically the same as Colonel Sheppard in practical terms except for a little empathy."

This was news to Chuck, and he asked the only question on his mind. "So she can sense what we're feeling, like Troi?"

Realizing this meant that Aquilina had likely been feeling _very _unwelcome, Dusty mused. "That's oddly reassuring."

Reyna snorted at Dusty's reaction, but gave Chuck a patient glare. "Yes, Chuck. And _enough_ with the Star Trek, I told you I don't get it."

Rolling his eyes, Chuck looked to Dusty. "She prefers _Star Wars_. God knows why."

* * *

"Alright, let's get this over with quick and easy. We're not alone in this galaxy and we have a potential trade partner …or a potential enemy ."

John snorted and shook his head idly as he rolled his eyes. "Great… it's the Genii all over again."

To his side, Kevin Marks grumbled slightly. "I wouldn't say that. The Genii might have been a nuisance, but they didn't have Liquid Trinium armor. We still don't know what the hell she was shooting at you guys."

Larrin nodded and rubbed her hand on her face. "She nearly killed our entire team and yet she walks around like she owns the place. What the hell are we gonna do with her?"

Sam nodded and looked to Alicia. The Major seemed a little nervous but added, "Well, we definitely can't return the armor to her. But maybe if we let her contact her people we can work something out. We're in no position to take on an entire military operation." She turned to Larrin. "On that note, how are the refits coming to your ships?"

Larrin groaned and shook her head. _"Slowly._ We only managed to explore a very small number of planets. Most of them are just gas giants or dead rock. Our ships weren't designed to use projectile weaponry and there're so many problems. Out of the 26 larger ships we have left, only three have been refitted with railguns."

Marks leaned forward and nodded as well. "That brings a whole new problem. We're out of railguns. Even more, we're bone dry on ammo except for _Daedalus_. If we want these ships to stand a chance against that creature I found, we're going to have to start actual production facilities here on Atlantis."

Sam sighed heavily and rubbed her face. The issues of the city were catching up with them and they just weren't ready. "I know. We're having food shortages as well and our supply of Naquadah is starting to dwindle. We're truly on our own and we've got to start solving problems instead of finding new ones."

Alicia was still a little nervous taking part of these briefings, but she kept her voice calm. "Maybe we can establish some trade with them. What do we have that might be useful?"

Sam nodded and looked to them all. "That's what I want to agree on. I want a full inventory of all our supplies and potential trade materials."

Marks shrugged right off the bat. "Given that armor they might _only_ want Ancient or Asgard technology."

Sam shook her head immediately as she sat on the conference room table. "No. Not until we're sure they won't try and use it against us. On that note, _Daedalus_ is our most valuable asset and I don't want it traveling alone anymore." She looked to Larrin. "I know I can't order you, but if you could…."

Larrin smirked and nodded. "Done. My scientists have been going over that core anyway and with some luck we might be able to reverse engineer our own version of the beaming technology. Since we've had little else to do we're working on several different projects to make our technologies more… _compatible."_

The room remained quiet for a moment, and then John interjected. "So who wants to make the long distance call?"

Sam smirked, and rolled her eyes. "I think we'll be able to pass that off to Daniel…"

* * *

"Chevron 7 locked."

The Stargate kawooshed and Sam took a deep breath before tapping the transmit button. "This is Colonel Samantha Carter calling any Olim representative."

There was no reply but the signal kept the wormhole open. John sitting off to the side sighed. "Guess they're not home."

Aquilina nearby scoffed. "They will not listen to you. You do not know how to speak."

Daniel sighed, Aquilina had a tendency to speak in riddles and he smiled at her. "Really? Well how about you come here and enlighten us?"

The Olim Woman smirked and moved forward without question. "Where do I speak?"

Sam narrowed her eyes at Aquilina and handed her a headset. "Here, put this on."

The woman fitted it quickly and then recited what sounded like a code. Nobody understood her off the bat but Daniel narrowed his eyes in surprise. "I think she's speaking something similar to Ancient Greek and Latin, a combination of the two but…_different._"

Aquilina finished speaking, and she looked to Sam. "They will respond now. Do you have a visual communications terminal?"

Sam resisted rolling her eyes and motioned to the giant LCD screen to the side of the control room. "There."

As a group, the Atlantis command staff surrounded the woman and stood in front of the screen. A few tense moments passed with nothing happening. Larrin was about to scoff and curse a blue streak when the screen suddenly flickered.

Chuck called out from his post. "We're receiving a transmission. Putting it up."

The screen turned to static for a moment, and then faded into what looked like a dark electronics room not unlike those at NORAD. A face of an older man appeared. He seemed quite surprised. "Who is this? How do you know the command frequency code? The council will hear of your transgression!"

Sam raised her eyebrows in surprise, but before she could speak, Aquilina spoke in a clear tone. "Aulus Centarus, it is Aquilina. I regret that I report to you late, but circumstances gave me little option."

The man, Aulus, raised his eyebrows as he looked over the Atlantis command staff. "Have you gone to another outpost?"

"No. These people are the ones I was sent to observe. I have been captured."

Aulus's eyes narrowed. "I see."

Tired of the constant bickering, John interjected harshly. "Hey, uh Aulus or whatever your name is. The only reason we even have this woman in our custody is because she fired on us _first_. We're damned lucky no one was killed or you can bet you'd have never seen her again."

Sam moved forward and pushed John a bit to the side. John relented quickly and rolled his eyes. "Aulus, My name is…"

Aulus interrupted, "Your name is irrelevant. You will explain who you are and why you are holding my soldier hostage."

Sam tensed her facial features and spoke coldly. "She is not a _hostage_. We are _not_ your enemy. We want to talk with you diplomatically."

Aquilina was the one who shoved Sam to the side this time. "She speaks the truth. I recommend you allow them to Magna Secundus to speak in person."

Aulus raised his eyebrows in shock. "Really? Hmm…" he turned to someone off-screen. "Alert our guard to allow them through." He turned back to the group. "Very well. Whoever you are, you are welcome to Magna Secundus. I will be expecting you in… 4 hours. It will be midday on this planet. How many people should I expect?"

It was happening so fast. The entire group looked around and quickly came to the conclusion that the entire Atlantis Command staff would have to go. With the patched up Marines as backup and a few Travelers, they made up a formidable squad. John shrugged as he looked to Aulus on the screen. "You can expect 10 of us. We'll be arriving in 4 hours in our ship through the Stargate."

Aulus furrowed his brow. "Stargate?"

Daniel snorted softly and added, "Astria Porta?"

"Ah, yes. You have a craft that can travel through?"

John nodded. "Yes, and just for your information, I'm Colonel Sheppard and these are…"

Aulus shook his head. "I will greet you all then. I assume Aquilina is coming as well?"

To everyone's surprise, Aquilina answered herself. "Of course."

Aulus nodded and remained emotionless. "Excellent. I await your arrival."

The screen shut off, and moments later the Stargate did as well. Larrin was the only one with enough coherence left to mutter. "What the _hell_ just happened?"

* * *


	12. Contact Part 2 Second Third

John instantly noticed the various gun emplacements surrounding the area around the gate as the Jumper crossed the event horizon. They weren't pointed at the Jumper though so he didn't panic.

It wasn't exactly a forested planet, but it wasn't the typical boreal shield style area both Pegasus and the Milky Way were famous for. In fact, the planet looked oddly pleasant for what John was assuming was a military colony.

Seated next to him, Sam began to run scans of the area. It didn't take long for her to sigh. "Looks like it's a medium sized colony. Maybe two or three thousand people total. Most of the buildings actually seem to be landed ships."

Larrin, who was seated behind John, mused impressed. "_Nice!_ Instant infrastructure. Enough of those ships and they could colonize a planet in days."

Keeping quiet, John simply followed the instructions sent to them by Aulus. It pointed to a larger building that didn't seem to be a ship. "Guess that's their capital building. Lots of people around."

Continually checking the scanner, Sam motioned to Aquilina. "Why would your people have so much firepower? These Gauss cannons are powerful enough to reach orbit."

Aquilina simply scoffed and refused to answer. John turned his head to her for a moment, then back to the screen. "Well whatever they're aiming at, it's probably not friendly."

Larrin being the one to state the obvious snorted._ "No really? _That's what _guns_ are for?"

Nobody answered her rhetorical question, and instead the HUD began to flash. "We're being hailed." John tapped a button and the screen popped up to show Aulus's face. "Colonel Sheppard. I look forward to meeting you. Set your craft down and we will begin our discussion."

John had little intention of being a part of said discussion, that's why Daniel was in the back chatting with the 3 Travelers along with Dusty, Drake and Alicia. A large party for a _'friendly'_ discussion, but after what happened on the Refugee planet he wasn't about to take any chances. The fact that they were all armed with particle magnums and a pair of stingers along with the standard pair of AT-4s that had been added to the Jumper's armament was testament to his caution. The netting above the benches in the back were all heavily laden with projectile weaponry as well.

The Jumper eased down in what appeared to be a natural park. The trees were deciduous and the climate warm and fair. John couldn't help but be reminded of all the habitable planets back in Pegasus… and with the knowledge that so far, only 1 out of every 10 planets they dialed turned out to be habitable was a harsh reality.

It bugged him. Why would the Ancients seed a galaxy they couldn't even explore without environment suits? "Alright folks, party's starting and we're fashionably late."

Nobody laughed, but John saw a smirk on some of their faces. Alicia drew her magnum and nodded to John from the aft. "Clear."

John shot a quick glance to Sam, then nodded to Alicia. "Open it, but keep your weapon down."

Alicia resisted snarking back and hit the open switch. The aft section of the Jumper cracked open and lay down becoming the ramp they would use.

Outside, Aulus, along with two large men, stood waiting. Most of the people around them were very curious but, for the most part, they ignored the Lantean craft. It was something John found rather different from typical first contact situations. "Greetings, Colonel Sheppard. I must admit, I am intrigued by your presence."

Never having been greeted like that before, John smiled and cocked his head. "Oh? That's nice to hear… I think." He realized he was being rude and motioned to Sam and Larrin. "Uhh, this is Larrin, leader of the Traveler People. And this is my commanding officer, Colonel Samantha Carter."

Aulus gave them both quick up and down glances, and after a moment, turned back to John. "Yes, I see." He then turned to Aquilina. "It is good to have you back, daughter."

All of the Lanteans were shocked at the revelation. The two of them didn't even _look_ that similar. "Thank you Father, though our…_guests _have refused to return my Alcaeus Armor."

Behind the group, Daniel moved ahead slowly and took a position next to Aquilina. He didn't say anything though and just listened as Aulus spoke. "Yes… something I believe we will discuss at length." He turned to John. "Have you had the midday meal yet? I find conversation much more stimulating over food."

John turned to Sam and with facial motions alone asked. Sam narrowed her eyes, feeling quite left out of this conversation. John took the hint and shrugged. "Really I'm not the one to talk to. Colonel Carter is our leader and I follow her orders."

Aulus's face contorted ever so slightly, and it was obvious that he wasn't pleased having to talk to Sam or Larrin. "Very well… Colonel Carter. Would you join us?"

Sam let her smile grow just a little. The 'Carter Special #2' on her back gave her confidence she never knew existed.

A modified FN-SCAR with a drum barrel clip instead of the regular magazines, the "Carter Special #2" had also been modified into a smaller carbine with a shorter barrel and extendable stock. A reflex sight on top allowed for easy aiming at short to medium ranges. John had wondered about the unique weapon, but said nothing. "Certainly. I will be _most_ pleased to discuss our peoples _at length_." She took the reins back from John who she could see was willingly giving them and motioned to Daniel. "This is Doctor Daniel Jackson, he is our expert of cultures and first contact situations."

Daniel smiled warmly and held his hand out to Aulus. "How do you do? It's a great honor to meet you sir."

Aulus looked at Daniel and blinked a few times before returning the handshake. "Yes… yes… I… " He closed his mouth and furrowed is brow. "Excuse me, but I must ask. Have you the gene that allows telepathy? I am rather… _confused_ when I feel you."

The group of Lanteans looked to each other. Daniel was the only one here with the Gene Therapy. He quirked his mouth and then replied even tonedly. "Ah yes… I think you're referring to what my people call the Ancient Technology Activation Gene. Only a few of our people have the gene naturally, but our medicine allows us to give it to certain people with a genetic therapy."

Aulus raised his eyebrows in alarm. "You have that ability?" He looked to John in shock. "And you _allowed_ this?"

Sam leaned forward and almost hissed. "_He_ allowed nothing. We have determined that only 2% of our population has this genetic code naturally activated. _Several_ of our people have been given the ability to use Ancient technology by use of this medicine." Sam realized that the Olim's empathy also allowed them to sense if a person had the gene or not… something she hadn't expected.

Again, Aulus gave her an almost condescending look. "And yet you do not have it?"

Now Sam understood why she was being treated this way. "No. I have chosen not to take the gene therapy for _personal reasons._" Having to explain the protein marker in her bloodstream didn't seem like the smartest way to continue this conversation.

Before Sam could try and move on, Larrin scoffed softly and narrowed her eyes at Aulus. "Whatsa matter Aul-_ass_, got a problem with women in charge?"

To her surprise, Aulus chuckled merrily and motioned to Aquilina to move closer, none of the Lanteans made any attempt to stop her. "Hahaha… no no no… we have long since evolved past gender segregation. It is an uncivilized thing to judge a person based on their gender."

Sam was about to reply but Daniel beat her to the punch. "But you judge people based on their _evolutionary_ state? That's why you prefer talking to Colonel Sheppard instead of Colonel Carter, _who is our rightful leader, _I might add."

Harsh words, but Aulus didn't seem to mind. "You are very perceptive Doctor Jackson. Perhaps this…_ gene therapy_ has done you good." Before anyone else could speak, Aulus used a more grandiose voice "Come now! We have a moderate banquet in preparation. All your people may come."

The three leaders of the renegade expedition gave each other quick glances, they may not have been telepathic, but the message got across. John turned back to Alicia and nodded.

Sam again smiled deviously sweet and mused. "Our people are just fine. The four of us should make ample debate. We still have to discuss exactly why _Aquilina _decided to fire on my people,"

Aulus turned to his daughter and frowned slightly. The seemed to have a conversation with only facial motions but to the more than casual observer, it was obvious they were having a mental conversation.

A few moments passed, and Aulus sighed as he turned back. "I must apologize for that. Aquilina's mission was one of reconnaissance, she was never supposed to contact, let alone engage your people." he turned and motioned to her.

The fiery woman now seemed downcast and stepped forward, eyes unwilling to meet the group. "I.. I am sorry. I was given the mission of stealthily observing the people you deposited on that planet and when I saw your team, I began to track them." She looked over and Alicia and narrowed her eyes. "Despite my best efforts, they were able to recognize I was following them. I was worried you would send a team to attempt to capture me." Now she seemed a little angrier "Your weapons are mostly useless against the Alcaeus Armor… but it is very disorienting. I was hoping to simply disable your team and use the Astria Porta to escape… I was not expecting a weapon like that." She pointed to the Traveler Magnum on John's hip.

Larrin smiled and snorted softly. "Nobody ever does."

Aulus could see that these talks were already breaking down, and he looked to John for some kind o control. The Lieutenant Colonel jerked his head back and made a motion towards Daniel. Aulus sighed and looked to the others. "As I have said, we have much to discuss… Follow me if you will."

The group turned to follow, they all gave each other looks and non-verbally communicated that this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

The talk with the Olim had begun well enough, they first discussed the matter of Aquilina attacking the team, and Sam believed Aulus when he said that it was unintentional. It seemed so strange for Aquilina to have been so aggressive but her people to be so… _calm_.

Very little was actually said beyond introducing themselves formally and a little explanation of the current inhabitants of Atlantis including the Travelers and Pegasus Refugees. Aulus seemed genuinely sympathetic to the tragic deaths of so many in Pegasus.

Aulus explained a little more of the Olim as well, exact records were a little sketchy, but the Olim seemed to genuinely believe they were the children of the Alterra.

He was most interested in the city itself though, and his questions seemed to revolve around how the Expedition came to have control over Atlantis. "So you've come from the original Galaxy… Avalon."

Daniel nodded as he raised the glass to his mouth to take a sip of the oddly tasty wine. "Originally, our people discovered Atlantis approximately 5 years ago and used the Astria Porta to travel there; it was in the Pegasus Galaxy which is 3 million light years from Avalon."

Aulus nodded and popped one of the small grape like fruits into his mouth. "I see… so you have not been in the city very long then."

Daniel shook his head. "Not _very_ long, but we've learned much and defended the city with our very lives."

One of the other Olim guests, a gruffer looking man scoffed softly. "Defended it? From who if I may ask?"

Sam decided to field this question. "We can explain all that later should you come visit the city. I'm sure you're very curious about it."

The Olim staff seemed to partially ignore her and Aulus turned to John.

"Colonel Sheppard. You must understand that to my people, Atlantis is merely a dream, a story to tell children. The Originals left us tales of such a thing, but we never believed them."

John swallowed the piece of meat he'd just been chewing, '_God I missed meat',_ and motioned to Daniel. "I'm not the one to ask about that. Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter are the experts here."

Beside Aulus, the three other Olim, a man and two women scoffed softly but remained quiet. Aulus kept his face impassive and turned to Daniel. "Well then, I would ask about your people then. How did it come to pass that the home world of the Alterra regressed so far back?"

Daniel could tell he'd been insulted, and seeing shift slightly and Larrin roll her eyes knew that this wasn't going to be getting any easier. "While Avallona, or Earth as we call it, was the home planet of the Alterra in Avalon, we are the second evolution of them. We've made many great strides in a short time; We've only been using the Stargate system for almost 20 years."

The Olim at the table seemed mildly disturbed by the admission. Aulus himself seemed quite surprised. "20 years? If I have understood you correctly, I can safely assume from your weapons and clothing that you are _not_ advanced enough to fully understand how Alterran technology works."

Sam leaned forward now and smiled deviously. "We've had much more success than you might think."

The Olim all gave her incredulous looks, and finally one of them spoke in a snide tone. "And what would a _monkey_ know of the universe?"

John's eyes instantly narrowed, and his posture leaned forward as if to strike the sneer off the Olim's face. To his surprise though, Sam's hand gently came down on his arm. "This _monkey_ has spent her whole life studying Ancient technology. I find your condescending tone to be rather… uncivilized."

Turning his head to Sam, their eyes met for a moment. John could see the hidden shock in hers, the almost-disbelief over what John had been about to do. John simply stared back in a "_So what?"_ expression with a slight rise of his head and the moment ended.

Aulus snorted softly and turned to Sam. "You'll forgive Menalus. Our culture views our Alterran genetic makeup as honor and standing. It is nothing personal."

Sam sneered back now obviously more than a little angry. "So because I'm don't have the gene, you find it hard to imagine how I could be the leader."

"There is much more to it than simply _a gene, _but as I've said, it is nothing personal."

Larrin scoffed and downed the rest of her glass. "Typical, you people've got yer heads so far up your own asses you can't see how pathetic you are."

Menalus, the same Olim who called Sam a monkey gave Larrin an incredulous look. "Really? Do explain _if you can._"

Larrin narrowed her eyes and sneered. "Gladly!"

Before it could devolve into a fist fight, Daniel spoke up loudly and held his hands up. "Whoa whoa whoa! I think maybe a quick _break_ might be in order? Just give us all a minute to cool off and look at the situation?"

Aulus smiled and nodded. "Yes… I believe that _would_ be fruitful." He turned to his people and nodded. "The courtyard is yours. When you are ready, speak to the guards at the Main Complex. There are much more details to discuss."

Curtly, the Olim got up and left, most giving nods of respect to Sheppard, and grudging looks to the others. The courtyard around them was mostly empty of life, but there were many trees and a few benches ot sit on.

John turned to the others and sighed. "Well, if these guys haven't hammered what I think of the Ancients I don't know what else would."

Larrin rolled her eyes and sat back on her chair. "_Assholes_ is what they are. Did you see the way that Menalus dude kept checking me out?"

Sam winced slightly at the mention of what she'd seen, and shook her head idly. "Be that as it may, they seem like half decent people. They're willing to talk and that's half the battle." She turned to John and after a moment's hesitation, nodded. "They need to learn some manners, but we've handled worse."

John kept his mouth quiet and his eyes down. He'd expected Sam to say _something_ but she was being cruelly kind to him. Something he wasn't expecting.

Daniel nodded, blissfully unaware of John's anger and blew a sigh. "Well… it's better than the Goa'uld or Ori that's for sure. I think if we keep our cool and only answer what we need to, this'll all end up okay."

Sam nodded. "Agreed. Let's go update Vega's team and then we'll go continue with Aulus."

The group all agreed, and despite some bumps in the road, it seemed things were going well.

* * *

"_Hrmph… primate lover."_

John heard the small sneer from the guard as he entered the building. He kept his cool though and pretended he hadn't heard. In fact, it had been the _first_ snide remark directed at him.

No one else mentioned anything if they'd heard. They followed the guard heading deeper into the complex. To their surprise, it was much larger than they'd expected for a subterranean building.

Sam led the group, fully recognizant of the few guards standing around. They weren't carrying weapons and that was very… odd.

They were led into an elevator and remained quiet as it began a slow descent. Only 3 stories down and they'd reached their destination.

The man handling the elevator opened it and motioned them through. Under his breath, he muttered _"Follow the monkey."_

Now John couldn't take it anymore. He began to pivot on his foot to give the man a good yell when he felt Sam's arm wrap around his and drag him forward.

Unintentionally it looked as if they were walking arm in arm, but from the muted tone of her voice, she had no romantic intentions whatsoever. _"John! What the __hell__ do you think you're doing?!"_

These Olim had given John every bit of respect he'd have given them, but the rest of his team had received only snide remarks and condescending looks. He didn't reply and just pulled his arm free of her grasp.

Sam kept walking forward with her eyes straight, but she wasn't going to let him off that easily. "I've been called _worse_ John. I don't need you to defend me."

John kept his voice low as they moved down the hallway following their guide. He simply gave Sam a small look, then faced forward again. "You think I don't _know_ that?"

Still acting as if nothing had happened, Sam turned slightly to John. "John, just drop it. This isn't the time _or_ place."

The tension between the two officers was so thick, both Larrin and Daniel hung back to give them the semblance of privacy. John replied back just a little more annoyed. "I _know_ you don't need a protector, but you're also my friend and you're _damn right_ I'm going to defend you."

Taking a moment, Sam looked around, saw no one other than them in the dull gunmetal colored hallway and turned her head fully to her SIC. "John, not now, _please._ We can talk when we get back home."

John sighed softly, they were reaching the end of the hallway. "Yeah…"

Behind them, Daniel easily noticed the way the two of them had an entire argument in the space of 13 seconds. It reminded him of the way he and Jack would have arguments that consisted of a dozen single syllable words ending with cake in the mess hall.

He only wished Sam and John could have ended the same way as well.

* * *

The room ahead of them turned out to be a much larger room than they expected. It took up two whole stories worth of height and gave Daniel and Larrin an odd sense of vertigo. Sam and John were used to motion sickness and simply shook it off though.

The room was festooned with electronic equipment, what looked like screens of radar telemetry, as well as other stations that controlled gods knew what. "Whoa… this place is _huge!"_

Sam wasn't as impressed as Larrin, but she had to admit, the Olim knew what they were doing. "It is impressive… wonder what they need all this for."

John growled softly. "Anyone get the feeling the other shoe's gonna drop?"

Daniel groaned. "It _will_ now that you've said it."

Larrin snickered and gave John a little shove of her elbow. "Stupid Sheppard."

With a _'ha ha'_ expression, John blew a small raspberry at Larrin. Sam couldn't help it and winced in mirth at the odd gesture.

Daniel moved forward upon seeing it, and saw Aulus standing by a large desk. He also noticed Sam become pensive, deep in thought. "Aulus!"

The relatively tall wizened looking man turned and nodded. "Please, join me."

The group moved ahead at a leisurely pace, and within moment they'd surrounded the table where Aulus stood. A galactic map of Hoag's object appeared along with dozens of small flashes dots. Sam was the first to recognize the lay out of the dots. "Impressive, I'm assuming this is your field of influence in the galaxy and these dots either represent ships or colonies."

Aulus raised an eyebrow as if a little surprised, but nodded. "Yes… my people have expanded slowly. We are very mindful of the dangers this galaxy poses and keep our colonies under strong protection."

John and Sam looked to each other at the mention of 'danger'. Larrin caught it as well and clicked her tongue. "What _kind_ of danger?"

Aulus smiled, opened his mouth but then shut it. A pair of seconds passed before he spoke. "How long is that you've been in our galaxy? Almost half a year? I would have expected you to have run into at least a few by now."

With a patient sigh, Daniel put his hands on the table as they stood and spoke diplomatically. "A few? Perhaps if we knew what you were talking about…"

Seeing that there was a battle of information, Sam decided to concede a point to learn more about the Olim. "We've had a few encounters. The largest took place here…" She pointed down to the galactic map and marked out the planet where the Hylea was attacked. "We had three separate encounters on this planet.. or at least what used to be a planet."

Aulus took a few deep breaths, then sighed. "So you have encountered the Shade. I am surprised you've been able to escape."

Larrin narrowed her eyes, realizing that Aulus had information that could explain what happened to the Hylea. "Not all of us have. I lost 15 people on a ship above that planet."

Sam couldn't help but like the way Larrin admitted to having ships, but not how many or the size and capabilities. "If you know anything? What _are_ these… _Shade?"_

Aulus looked at them all and sighed condescendingly. "How you have survived to this point is miraculous." He motioned over to one of his men to activate something.

The already dark room became darker, and the table they were around changed image and began to hum. Aulus motioned everyone away and a moment later, 4 small projectors popped out of the table.

A hologram appeared before them, it was the shape of the creature that had attacked Sylek and Rafaela a few months previous. "This is the most common form of the Shade. They are a silicon based lifeform and spread like an infection throughout the galaxy." Aulus turned to John and nodded. "You must have _some_ formidable technology to have tangled with them and survived."

John narrowed his eyes and answered vaguely. "_Some_ yes. But what do you mean these things are like an infection to the galaxy?"

Aulus shook his head idly. 'They… the exact means by which they spread is still unknown to us. Perhaps we could work out some kind of agreement to an exchange of information."

Daniel smiled, now he knew what was going on. "Well… what kind of information are we talking about?"

The older leader smirked and nodded. "Perceptive… you _are_ an expert Doctor Jackson." He turned to the others and his facial expression lightened. "I see no reason why we cannot be friends. The Olim have always been peaceful except for our own defense. Truthfully you are the first humans we have met apart from our own… I shall have to contact our council to agree on what types of exchange and trade we may form."

Sam was thinking that this was going excessively fast. So she stepped in and took control again. "I think my own people will want to do the same… if you don't mind, we'll be heading back to Atlantis for now. We'll be sure to contact you as soon as we have a full inventory and perhaps you can even tour the city."

John and Daniel were the only ones to notice, but Sam had basically just said _'Don't call us, we'll call you.' _Neither mentioned in though and simply nodded to Aulus in respect. "Aulus…"

Larrin simply smiled and shrugged. "See ya!"

As a group, the Lanteans left the room through the same way they came in, less than 10 minutes had been spent down here and a little over an hour and a half worth on the planet.

As they walked into the hallway again, they kept their voices low. Larrin was the first to speak. "Anyone wanna take bets on what he wants from us?"

John scoffed and rolled his eyes at Daniel's remark. "I don't take junk bets."

Sam sighed and shook her head. "From what I could see on the map, and the level of technology we've seen so far, they're about 300 years ahead of us technology wise." She turned to Larrin quickly seeing her incredulous face. "Earth that is. If we count the Asgard and Ancient technology we have, we're still eons ahead. Same with your own tech."

About halfway to the elevator now, John mused unhappily. "I'm not comfortable letting them in the city… if they all have the gene there's no telling what they'd be able to do."

With the elevator ahead, the group quickly silenced as the doors opened for them. More would have to be said but for the moment, diplomacy seemed to be doing a good job.

* * *

"They don't seem so bad. Maybe the 'bitch' was just a bad example."

Alicia snorted softly at Drake's words. "You're only saying that because that cute girl who brought us lunch smiled at you."

The Traveler group along with Dusty laughed at the tease. Drake rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well she _was_ friendly. I think the way they treated _you_ was a lot more suspicious to be honest. The whole _'Pleasure to meet you'_ and _'Your aura of leadership…'"_

A groan left Alicia's mouth, but a sudden dull rumble from above them cut the conversation short.

The group looked up to the sky, the same late midday sky that was now becoming darker. Alicia flicked the cover off the scope of her rifle and looked up into the sky where dark splotches now appeared, more appeared as time passed.

Around them, alarms began to sound and the people who had been calmly walking around began to panic.

One word rose above all others in the cacophony.

"_Shade"_

The group's radio's began to chatter. "_This is Colonel Carter! Major what's going on out there?"_

Alicia blinked a few times and began to control her breathing. Her vision cleared and the image in the scope became clearer. What looked like a giant insectoid…_"Oh shit."_

Dusty gulped as she looked up as well. "Okay… why am I suddenly getting _really_ nervous?"

Alicia winced, recognized the creatures in the skies now coming closer to the planet and gulped as she clicked her radio. "This is Major Vega… the planet is being invaded… I repeat… the planet is being invaded by those creatures…"

A few seconds passed, and everyone in the area immediately began to organize… almost as if they were used to this. Alicia took a second just to think, although to her surprise Colonel Carter's voice came through amidst arguing on the radio. _"Major! Coordinate with the Olim guards and see what you can do to help! Colonel Sheppard, Larrin and Doctor Jackson are coming back now to assist!"_

Alicia could hear John arguing in the background, she wondered what he could have been saying.

But no matter. She looked up again and saw the dark splotches getting closer…. There were hundreds if not _thousands._ She could only hope the weapons batteries that were firing had more effectiveness than she thought they did.

* * *

"You've got to go _now!_"

John fought back what he wanted to scream and tried to imagine the guards running past him couldn't hear a damn thing. "I'm _not_ leaving you alone!"

Sam winced and clenched her teeth. "I'm giving you a _direct order_… Go and take care of our people!"

Daniel and Larrin had already moved off towards the courtyard ready to help or at least evacuate. One of the guards offered to escort Sam and John back to the control center to coordinate the effort. He waited to the side while the two argued. "You know, technically, I don't _have _to follow your orders anymore."

John seemed adamant, and Sam didn't have time to deal with this. "John… _go._ I'll be fine. If these people are _ever_ going to respect me then I have to show them why _you_ do."

A scoff left John's lips. "You want me gone because of how it'll _look?_"

It was a double edged question, and Sam would have slapped him if it wasn't such an emergency. She instead decided to get the heart of the matter they'd never fully resolved. "John. _Not now._ We buried that and this is _not_ the time." She stared John down with a gaze he'd never seen from her before. "Now you get out there and you _make sure our people are safe!"_

John's fists clenched and his jaw trembled ever so slightly in rage. But he bowed his read and nodded. "_Yes,_ ma'am." Without another word or even turning his head, John jogged off towards the courtyard to assess the situation. Sam clenched her fists and stepped into the elevator.

She turned to look at the guard nearby who seemed sympathetic. "Take me to the control room."

The guard nodded, and he kept his voice low. "He's very protective of you."

Sam was rarely if ever rude. In fact, the rudest she'd ever been was punching Ba'al. This guard wasn't anywhere near as bad, but he still deserved something. "I don't need protection; all I need is for him to follow orders and you to shut up."

Surprised by her aggressiveness, the Guard began to consider that maybe the _"monkey leader"_ was the leader for a good reason.

* * *

"Break out the heavy weapons. Put the particle magnums away. If anything lands around us they'll be immune to…"

Outlining what John was talking about, the 22 Gauss Cannon turrets placed around the colony began to fire. Each shot created a miniature sonic boom that rustled the leaves around the area. The also left steam trails as the hypersonic rounds literally boiled the traces of water in the air they passed through.

Drake covered his ears and muttered. "_Jesus_… with those things you'd think they'd be able to fight _anything_ off!"

Dusty finished dragging out one of the cases inside the Jumper and barked at Drake. "Remember the ice planet? _How many of those things are up there?!"_

Not bothering to answer the rhetorical question, Drake simply cracked open the case and hefted the Stinger onto his shoulder.


	13. Contact Part 2 Third Third

Sam walked into the control room and saw Aulus give her a surprised look. "Colonel, What are you doing here?!"

Taking a position next to the table, Sam adjusted her rifle on her back and nodded. "I'm ready to help your people anyway I can. My team is armed and ready to assist."

Aulus scoffed and pointed to one of the men manning the controls. "You wish to help? Order your men to assist with the evacuation through the Astria Porta, our ships will take the majority of our people, but this building is not a ship. Over 300 people must be evacuated through the Astria Porta to one of our planets… I have approximately 50 others who will remain until all our ships launch including my command staff."

Sam nodded, a little surprised that he was staying till the end, and before she moved off to coordinate the defense, Sam narrowed her eyes to Aulus. "We're more alike than you think."

Leaving him with that, Sam moved over to the where Menalus was coordinating the launch of the ship/buildings to coincide with the defensive fire from the gauss cannon emplacements. Aulus gave her a moment's gaze, then turned back to the console table to continue

* * *

"Cloak the Jumper Leese! Don't wanna risk losing our ride!"

Alicia nodded as she quickly set the cloak on and grabbed the remote. "Done!"

John looked over to the Stargate where the Olim evacuees had begun to go through. Up in the skies the dark masses of Shade began to close… and still more were appearing. "_Holy mother of…_ How many of those things _are there?!"_

Daniel Jackson had taken a position next to John holding a P90. "Shade… shade… Thermopylae..."

Turning his head and feeling the shockwave of air as a nearby ship/building took off, John muttered. "Thermopylae? _Jesus Jackson_, you _really_ know how to brighten the mood!"

Behind them both, Larrin finagled together her P90 and looked more than a little nervous. "Thermo-paw-lie? The hell is that?"

Daniel looked up at the sky and the way the Shade incoming seemed more like a cloud. "Earth History… a group of 300 Spartan warriors held off a significantly larger force of Persians with advanced tactics and weapons." He motioned upwards. "the Persians threatened to fire so many arrows that it would block out the sun."

The blood in Larrin's face drained. "You're _shitting_ me."

John shook his head and flicked the safety off the FN-SCAR he held. "Wait till you see the movie… The Spartans replied with _'Good, we'll fight in the shade.'_"

Larrin shook her head and tried to remain calm, only minutes remained for the creatures above them to land. "Guess we know where the name came from. Creepy."

Before they could continue to argue, Sam's voice came over the radio. "_This is Carter, Sheppard come in please."_

John was _still_ angry that she'd gone off on her own but he had decided to forget about it... for now "_Yes, _This is Sheppard." Okay maybe not long, but he _tried_ to be reasonable.

"_The Olim are evacuating the planet via their ships, but they're also going to use the stargate. ETA on initial contact with the Shade in 3 minutes. Form a defensive perimeter around the Stargate and cover the retreat of the Olim civilians."_

Standard Operating procedure, John had just about mastered doing this against the Wraith and Replicators. What kind of tactics would the Shade use? "Copy that! Taking defensive positions!" John turned to Daniel and Larrin. "You two stay with the Jumper…" he then nodded to Drake and Dusty. "Take the Travelers and cover the gate."

Alicia flicked the safety off her FN-SCAR and motioned to John. "Orders?"

John turned and yanked back the receiver on his rifle reading it for action. "You're with me… front lines."

Nobody was envying the two military leaders.

* * *

"We have only about 2 hours before the planet's surface becomes uninhabitable."

Sam couldn't believe her ears. "2 hours? How is that possible?"

Aulus sighed and stared at the console as the first wave of Shade still careened through the sky. He used his hand to demonstrate the different targets on the screen. "The Shade operate with an intelligence that surpasses our understanding. The first wave of their invasions typically see smaller sized creatures being spread across the targeted area on the planet, typically near the Astria Porta. As near as we can tell their main purpose is to assess the planet's defensive capabilities if any,"

The image of the creature appeared it looked oddly like… "Hey! We've seen creatures like this before. Not this big though."

Aulus sighed and zoomed in on different areas to show them in detail. "They have a mentality almost like dogs and travel in packs. Our land to orbit Gauss Cannons have difficulty tracking them and typically we must rely on ground forces to engage them. Our Alcaeus armor is sufficient to engage them in small numbers… but we have only a few troops properly trained to use them."

Sam nodded and clicked her radio. "How long will it take to evacuate your people through the stargate…" Realizing he didn't call it that she corrected herself. "…Uh I mean the Astria Porta?"

Aulus watched on the screen as the leading ship taking off into the atmosphere engaged the shade falling past it with its light gauss cannons. Oddly reminiscent of the Railguns on the Daedalus, but much more power if a slower rate of fire. "Our ships should reach the necessary range for Hyperdrive in 8 minutes. Our people have already begun to move through the Astria Porta. I estimate 15 minutes for the staff in this building to begin evacuation."

15 minutes. That was an eternity in combat. Sam sighed once and then nodded as she clicked her radio. "Colonel Sheppard… I need you to hold your position at the Stargate for 15 minutes. Use any and all available resources. Prepare for the first wave."

John's voice followed a moment later. "_It's already here sort of… the broken pieces of the Shade above us are falling like rain… we've had to take cover to avoid injury."_

Aulus nodded and sighed. "Even in death do they still lash at us, they drown us in their own blood and broken flesh."

A very dark reality, and Sam winced as the Shade on the screen drew almost within range. "Engage at will Colonel Sheppard. If things get too hot fall back to the Jumper and take as many Olim as you can. Over."

Another moment's hesitation, and only 45 seconds remained for contact. "…_Yes Ma'am."_

Aulus scoffed slightly in fascination. "He cares for your well being. You must be a great warrior for him to respect you so."

20 seconds, and another wave of gauss cannon shots shattered more of the Shade… just a drop in the ocean compared to what was in orbit. "Let's hope so."

* * *

The dirt flew up as the first Shade creatures landed and left small craters on impact. How they could survive an orbital drop was difficult to fathom, but that didn't stop the Olim troops who had arranged themselves around the stargate from firing.

Some carried arm mounted Gauss Rifles, each shot leaving a trail of smoke and steam as it burned through the air. The shots tore apart the Shade they hit and some even hit multiple creatures with its armor penetrating ability. The Lanteans all recognized the familiarity of the weapon and wondered how it was that they'd survived their initial meeting.

John didn't have time to think about that though and screamed over the squad com radio. "Fire at will!"

It was hard to miss, at least 2 dozen Shade creatures had landed in their vicinity with dozens more landing around the outskirts. Some seemed intent on just running around, but the group near the gate rushed forward.

To make matters worse, more Shade were coming from above, the Gauss cannons on the ground had been reoriented to provide cover but were under attack now. A few Olim troops holding each position.

John realized that this was a siege, and he was protecting their only means of escape. Should the Jumper get damaged, it was likely they wouldn't be going back to Atlantis.

He emptied his clip into the nearest Shade creature and was rewarded with its trembling death throes as it shattered into pieces. The projectile weapons appeared very effective against ths small dog like creatures but there were just _so _many of them.

The Olim were doing the majority of the heavy lifting through, a trio of armored soldiers used Gauss rifles that boiled the humidity in the air as they fired; each hit shattering the crystalline form of the Shade like a hammer to a vase. However, it was a slow reloading weapon, and the Shade were drawing closer.

John realized what they were after, it wasn't the Stargate itself, but rather the DHD. Without the DHD the Stargate was useless unless they had time… and that's just what they didn't have anymore. "_Vega!"_

The Major ejected her spent clip and slammed a new one in as she scampered back to where John had a high position. The noise was almost unbearable and screams sounded like whispers. _We can't hold this position for long!"_

Proving her point, one of the Shade coming from above broke through the perimeter and landed beside them. A hissing noise like steam came out and both soldiers leveled their rifles and fired point blank. At this range, the could see and even feel the chunks of hard crystal shatter off and penetrate into the creature.

It hissed and tried to lunge at the DHD, but before it had a chance one of the Armored Olim Soldiers jumped into the line of fire and used his fist like a hammer.

John stopped firing and in amazement watched as the Olim got a grip on the Shade's forearms and literally tore it apart like a bag of chips. Some kind of boiling fluid spewed from its broken body and steamed as it pooled on the floor.

The same Olim smashed his fist into the creature again, putting a final touch on the massacre.

John and Alicia ducked as they felt a shockwave go through the air, and looked up at where one of the Olim craft spiraled through the sky, half on fire.

The craft was sleek and agile looking, it sported several smaller turrets that even as the ship left a scar of smoke across the sky still vainly tried to fight off the Shade that had latched on. John felt his already racing heart beat even harder as bits of the cargo ship like craft peeled off and fell to the ground.

Alicia braced herself against John and they fought back to back as more Shade dropped near them, "Gotta get outta here!"

"Agreed!" John fired a long burst at a Shade creature nearby, and winced as he saw it crumple to the ground in razor sharp shards. Already his arms and face were nicked by the small pieces that had shattered off and he knew the rest of his team must have been in the same confusion. "Jumper, now! These thing's are after the DHD!"

A loud explosion sent them both to the ground, and John used his arm to cover Alicia's head. He felt a the sharp sensation of a piece of the Shade creature that had just broken apart next to them sliced across his arm causing a minor bleeding wound.

The explosion had come from above, and the shockwave from the reactor of the Olim Ship that had just been destroyed. A further 20 or so smaller ships, not much larger than an Al'Kesh and even shaped similarly were nearing the edge of the atmosphere.

There was something else though, something much larger and almost unreal. A gigantic black splotch in the early afternoon sky had appeared. It was clearly in orbit, but to be visible through the smoke, clouds and even light of the sun made it unbelievable.

Alicia pulled away from John and nodded. "Jumper's DHD is our last chance!"

Concentrating so much on the battle in his immediate vicinity, John hadn't realized that his team had gotten scattered. He and Alicia were near the gate while the Travelers had split up under Dusty and Drake's command. Each group fought alongside a squad of Olim troops to hold back the Shade as more Olim civilians rushed through the Stargate holding whatever they could. Daniel and Larrin on the other hand were already at the Jumper fighting with what skill they could.

John looked to Alicia and nodded as he slammed a fresh clip into the receiver. He only had 2 clips left and he imagined the others were just as bad. Alicia moved forward first, firing at any Shade that happened to get in her sights as John screamed into the radio. "All Atlantis personnel back to the Jumper! We're being overrun and that Jumper's DHD is our ticket outta here! Direct Order, Direct Order!" He hoped that making it so clear that Sam would decide to come back.

* * *

"It is a standard tactic for the Shade, once any opposition is driven off, their mothership moves into position for orbital drilling."

Sam couldn't believe what was happening. She'd played Halo with John and Chuck a few times just because it was so boring on Atlantis sometimes _(admittedly she liked Cortana)_ and had rolled her eyes at the Flood.

Seeing the Shade pour down onto the planet from their large carrier like creatures in orbit though, Sam wasn't sure about her former feelings. "Orbital drilling? So they mine the planet?"

Aulus tapped the console on the table and images were brought up. The giant creature in the sky looked eerily similar to the images brought back from the _Daedalus_. "We still do not understand how it works, but once any resistance is suppressed, the mothership will fire a heat drawing beam. It will bore into the crust of the planet freezing the planet's core.

It will freeze the immediate area with a massive burst of some form of heat drawing energy to allow for easier drilling. It will not be long before this area is uninhabitable.

Approximately six hours after commencing drilling, the mothership will deploy a missile of solid Naquadah. It will fall into the core of the planet and shatter it with its detonation."

Sam couldn't fight the gulp and felt the blood drain out of her face. "They've done this to many planets haven't they?"

Aulus nodded and winced hard as another Olim craft came under attack, this time from a larger shade creature. "We have seen it countless times. Hundreds if not thousands of planets have fallen… thankfully few that were habitable."

Sam noticed the larger Shade creatures descending from the 'carrier' ships in orbit and recognized it. "We've faced these before… are they the second wave?"

Watching on the screen as a rocket flew up from the area around the Jumper and slammed into one of the larger Shade, Aulus raised his eyebrows. "I see that you do have experience. Yes, our Gauss Cannons were designed to fend these off as they are much more dangerous than the smaller ones." Aulus sighed and looked to Sam. "We should leave. Most of our people have finished moving through the Astria Porta. You will be welcome on the homeworld."

Not exactly thrilled with that prospect. Sam smirked deviously and clicked her radio. "Colonel Sheppard, please come in."

A moment passed, and on the screen before her the signature of another rocket flying up from near the Jumper. This one missed the Shade it was aimed at, spun around a few times then fell back to the ground. _"Copy, Colonel! We need to evac __now!"_

Sam blew a sigh, looked to Aulus and then spoke quickly into her radio. "Agreed. Get everyone you can into the Jumper. Cloak and wait for the Stargate to…"

Before she could finish, Aulus motioned her to the screen on the table. "It is too late. The Astria Porta interface has just been destroyed. The wormhole has disconnected and we have no portable units with us."

Ignoring that Aulus had just admitted to having portable DHD technology, Sam instead smiled realizing that it was her time to shine. "Not yet it isn't." she clicked her radio. "Colonel Sheppard, cloak and dial Atlantis. Tell them to prepare for refugees."

* * *

John hefted the AT-4 and handed it to Drake who crouched to one knee and aimed. He covered his ears as the blast behind him pushed him back into the Jumper. "Copy that, Colonel! Get out here now before we take off!" The dying screech of the larger Shade creature that had been hit punctuated his words.

The group of Lanteans waved the few Olim Troops that still fought alongside them, without the ship-buildings to draw fire and provide cover, many of the Olim Troops had been overcome by sheer numbers, the three armored soldiers still remained and continued to fight to the extreme.

Sam's voice came through stoically. "_Don't wait for me! Dial Atlantis and we'll make it on foot. We're moving out now."_

Again John wanted to argue, but the soldier in him told him she was right. "_Copy."_ He looked over to Alicia who grabbed another box and opened it up. Inside were two dozen clips for their FN-SCARs. "Everyone inside _now!_ We're taking off!" He then motioned to the Olim soldier. "You too! Come on!"

The Olim soldier who was fully encased in the armor nodded. His armor peeled down from his head and revealed a tan skinned man. "You'd take us with you?"

Without even looking, the Olim soldier held up one arm and fired his Gauss Rifle, the smaller Shade that had noticed the odd invisible door of the Jumper took the hit and severed in two from the hypersonic weapon. "Damn right, Now _get in!"_

All around them fires raged from broken turrets and ships. The Jumper was the only safe spot on the planet at the moment as still more Shade descended from the heavens to wreck havoc. Most weren't even hostile anymore, instead they were using their forearms to dig into the ground at an alarming pace.

John pushed his way through,. Somehow his hand got wet with blood. Whose he didn't know but it was disturbing all the same. His entire team was here, everyone with minor scrapes and cuts but no serious injuries. Five Olim had boarded as well and everyone was on edge.

Taking his seat at the helm, John wasn't surprised when Alicia took the side passenger seat. "How many d'ya kill?"

John turned to look at her for a moment, then scoffed as he began to close the rear hatch. "At least eight. Little bastards are _tough_."

Alicia tapped the HUD and quickly brought up the screen. "Eight, huh? I got almost a dozen. Guess you were busy."

John knew a distraction when he saw one. She was just trying to get his mind off the fact that Sam wasn't among them. And, while he appreciated Alicia's care, he didn't bother with it. "Congratulations." He moved the Jumper up and towards the Olim HQ, Sam hadn't ordered him _not_ to go here and the DHD was still dialing.

A few moments passed, the Jumper now soaring in the air amongst the dozens if not hundreds of Shade scurrying on the ground, a few of the larger ones spread out almost supervising the task, whatever it was.

"John, I'm picking up some kind of atmospheric disturbance. It's almost like a tornado but…"

He looked out the front canopy of the Jumper and could see what Alicia was scanning. "That _IS _a tornado!"

Lo and behold, a few kilometers away a large swirl of dust, dirt, wind and anything that wasn't hammered down indeed forming. Even more, it seemed to literally be ripping away the ground underneath it like a drill. The masses of dirt it pulled away flew off in all directions like the spray of an actual drill.

Alicia heard a bleep from the console, hit the view alarm button, then raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The temperature's dropping. That _tornado_ is sucking the heat out into orbit."

It seemed so obvious now. That's what the large ship in orbit was. "Aw, crap, _That's_ how they did it…"

Alicia didn't have time to ask who did what as the Jumper began to shake. "Getting turbulence… lots of wind."

They had to get out of there now. In a matter of less than 15 minutes the entire Olim colony had been reduced to broken steel and God knew what alloys they used. John couldn't believe this was all happening so fast. The DHD chimed that Atlantis had been dialed and he clicked his radio. "This is Sheppard calling Atlantis. Do you read?"

A few moments passed, and Chuck's worried voice came through. "_Sir, what's happening?"_

John didn't really have time to explain it so he spat orders. "Get every available security guard down to the gateroom on the double. We're taking evacuees and many are armed. Do not engage but _do not_ give them access to the base!" No matter what, John knew that he would never fully trust an Ancient again. There were only two he trusted and both were nothing more than energy now. "Arm another team with projectile weapons! Tell them to be ready to fight those crystal creatures!"

A second passed, and the Jumper was now over the Olim HQ. and descending. John could make out in the distance a few more Olim running towards the gate, firing some kind of Gauss weaponry in the air to discourage any errant Shade.

In fact, the battle seemed almost over. The hectic nature of the smaller creatures had exhausted him quickly and now all that was left was surviving. John didn't pay attention as Chuck simply acknowledged that he was following orders.

* * *

Sam held her rifle at the ready as the group moved up to the main floor. The Olim guards whom she had seen before that were weaponless were now all fully armored. It seemed that they'd been hiding their armor with supreme control of the magnetic field. They were even wearing their clothes over it. She didn't have time to bother thinking about that now, and instead moved forward with Aulus and his command staff.

She'd been expecting to show these Olim what a little running can do, so it came as a surprise when Ronon stuck his head out from the invisible Jumper and screamed, "Come on! Yer ride's here!"

Sam cursed softly; John was risking the Jumper and their entire envoy just to rescue _her._ She knew it was really her that had driven his instincts.

To prove her point, John jumped out holding his FN-SCAR at the ready. He motioned to Sam and the Olim Command Staff. "Come on! I can take another five!"

Sam looked to the Olim around her, they were older men and women who likely weren't prepared for a fight. To the sides, Olim troopers alongside Ronon fought off any curious Shade. It seemed literally like the eye of a storm what with the cold and sudden wind. "You go, Aulus! I'll go with your men on foot!"

John opened his eyes wide and was about to yell something when Sam shot him a look that instantly cowed him. Aulus gasped and looked at her. "You would do this?"

Sam simply nodded, saw a Shade approaching from behind Aulus and shoved him towards the Jumper. "Sheppard! Go _NOW_!"

There wasn't a chance for arguing as Sam flicked the safety off her modified FN-SCAR with the decal of "Carter Special #2" on the side. She turned and held the weapon at her hip as she fired. The heavy 7.62 rounds flowed out like water from the Drum Barrel weapon, the Shade quickly tearing apart from the onslaught. The Olim Soldiers were amazed by Sam's ferocity and quickly joined alongside her.

John took a half second to curse, then turned back into the Jumper leading the Olim Command Staff inside. Nobody said a word to him as he closed the hatch on the Jumper and lifted off.

On the ground, Sam killed two more Shade with well-aimed bursts. Her adrenaline had just released a fresh dose and her mind was clear. It had been ages since she was in combat and it felt _good._

_

* * *

_

Chuck watched as the Jumper moved in immediately after the latest group of Olim evacuees. He tuned out their surprised cries of where the hell were they and instead dedicated himself to organizing the security forces.

A few seconds after the Jumper made it through, what looked like a very expensive crystal centerpiece lunged through the gate onto the floor of Atlantis. A few of the Olim were armed and immediately fired.

Screams and hisses came from below, and pandemonium reigned.

* * *

Sam barely caught the Jumper making it through the gate and thanked God for small favors. Then again, seeing how the smaller Shade had fallen back and the big boys were coming after them, she needed a _large_ favor.

She only had three drum clips total, and she was burning through the second one now as she hosed down the creature that stomped after them. The Olim were fearful as well, and their Gauss Rifles fired vainly.

The creatures were as big as Jumpers, and the bullets and Gauss Rifles just weren't causing enough damage. They were maybe a hundred and fifty feet away from the still active gate and it would stay active as long as her radio signal was forcing it open.

The large Shade Creature howled and used one of its forearms to slap away one of the armored Olim. His cry of pain from being flung almost fifty feet terrified Sam.

_Screw fighting this thing!,_ Sam emptied the clip and turned into a flat out run. The Olim followed and the distance to the gate seemed to close.

To her shock, one of the smaller Shade dropped down from its long leap right in front of her and snarled. Sam dodged one way, got blocked, tried to move the other way and still it wouldn't let her pass.

She reloaded her rifle just as the Olim soldier next to her jumped forward and took the Shade creature on in hand-to-hand combat. Sam knew he was risking his own life to an extreme for her, and she silently prayed for him.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to help though, and with her reloaded rifle, she fired a pair of bursts that tore the Shade's left arm off leaving the rest for the Olim Soldier.

So close now, maybe fifty feet. Only one Olim soldier remained with her as they fired suppressive fire hoping to reach the gate.

And that's when the ground began to shake, Sam lost her footing and fell to the floor. She rolled over onto her back and saw what looked like a comet flying through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of smoke and fire as it neared the ground. It followed the same path as the Tornado-like beam that was sucking in just about everything but light.

She saw the large Shade that had been following them shoot something at the Olim next to her, or rather, it was that super powered vacuum beam that John had described. She felt a blast of cold next to her and jumped away instinctively, rolling down a small hill that led towards a broken Olim Building that had somehow remained on the ground.

She didn't see much, but it was enough. The Olim Soldier screamed in agony as he was literally frozen in place, his Gauss Rifle raised but not firing. Tumbling down the hill, Sam slammed the pistol grip of her rifle into the ground to act as an anchor to stop her.

She was covered in dirt and mud. And as she finally stopped and stood, Sam felt her muscles sore from running and fighting.

Looking up to the sky, Sam saw all the Shade in the area fall back. They were moving away as the comet-like object now came closer.

Forgetting about safety, Sam rushed forward towards the active Stargate. She _had_ to make it. Sam did _not_ want to die on some godforsaken rock 600 million light years from home.

Averting her gaze from the frozen Olim soldier, Sam sprinted at top speed. She hazarded a look back and saw she wasn't going to outrun the impact of the falling flameridden object.

One foot after the other, Sam wished she'd taken John and Ronon up on their offer of running more often. She'd joined them a few times but they were simply faster even if she could last as long!

She'd made it to the courtyard where the Stargate stood in the center. Of all the insane things Sam had seen today… a snowflake dropped down onto her nose as she ran.

The ground shook again, and Sam stumbled. This time it wasn't a simple tremor and the ground began to groan as if being ripped apart. She looked back and realized she wasn't going to make it in time.

The comet slammed into the ground and shot up a massive column of dirt and snow building from the storm where it hit. What looked like a massive shockwave of dust flew outward in a spherical pattern.

But what really got Sam's attention was the way the ground underneath her tore apart like an orange peel. She jumped back and tried to run towards the Stargate again.

But it was futile, and just as she'd made it to within throwing range of the 'gate, the ground beneath her shook violently again and she stepped onto nothing.

Sam fell, and almost instantly began to roll down the broken dirt alongside the rockslide of torn earth. She relaxed her body instinctively and bowed her head to protect it. Her hands up and letting her rifle go.

She couldn't see anything, the odd flash of light likely just looking up into the sky. She couldn't even hope to climb back up this way as the dirt and rocks were so loose that she created her own rockslide as she fell.

It lasted forever, she felt like she was falling down a mountain. A relatively gently sloped mountain, but any attempt to try and stop met with loose dirt that would never hold her back or stop her.

Finally, to her shock, the light came back, a dull gunmetal sheen outlined the dark earth she was falling with. She'd fallen into one of the Olim Sub-levels. The entire colony must have had these tunnels running underneath as she was at least 300 feet away from the HQ where she'd previously been.

Just as she was starting to slow down, a dull and very blunt object impeded her, She smacked into it with her right thigh first and cried out in unrepressed anguish as she felt her femur crack in two from the hit. She tasted the dirt in her mouth but didn't care. The agony of rolling onto the dull metal floor of the sub-level was too much and Sam just couldn't take it anymore.

When she finally came to a halt, she felt her leg twitching and the beginning signs of shock, hazy vision, instant happy feelings, the endorphins trying to keep her from simply passing out.

When the shockwave from the hit reached her though, the endorphins weren't enough and Sam simply lost consciousness to keep her from having to live through the pain.

* * *

John had rushed down into the control room with Aulus and the others behind him. The Olim Commander was joyous to see that his daughter had been among those to escape near the end, and the wormhole was still active.

Chuck reported that no one had come through in almost three minutes. The Jumper was the last living thing apart from the now shattered pieces of the Shade monster that lay in the Gate Room floor.

John ignored the pandemonium around him and stood at the top of the stairs. Praying, wishing, pleading with whatever higher power would listen to him.

But John Sheppard was not a religious man, and before his eyes, the wormhole connecting them to the planet where Colonel Samantha Carter was on flickered then shuddered as if under great stress and the safety's shut it down.

That was it. There was no DHD on that planet anymore. There was no escape from Magna Secundus for anyone left there. John bowed his head silently and closed his eyes. He'd banished much pain, and his arm was still bleeding, but the anguish of seeing the wormhole shut down before Sam came through was almost too much. John realized how much he really cared about her and how much it meant to him to be able to follow her leadership.

To his surprise, Aulus came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry… I… I do not know what to say."

John simply remained quiet. There _had_ to be a way! How far was the planet? How long would it take to get a ZPM installed in _Daedalus_ to get there as fast as possible?

"This has been a sad day for both our people's, Colonel Sheppard. Magna Secundus was one of the few planets in this galaxy capable of supporting our lives. Know also that the Olim mourn for Colonel Carter."

Still John remained quiet. He turned around and looked at Chuck. "Dial the gate Chuck. See if you can establish a lock." John's tone was deadly serious, and Chuck didn't ask why.

Aulus sighed and shook his head as he showed genuine grief. "I do not believe I will ever achieve your forgiveness, Colonel Sheppard. I, too, know what it's like to lose a mate."

_That_ was too much. John had suffered through their bigotry, through Sam's insistence on giving them a chance, and even more, the injuries inflicted by the man's daughter who wore…

Chuck's voice barely registered as a crazy idea hit John's head. The kind of idea that put him _deep_ in the lunatic fringe. "We've got a lock! The wormhole's active and we can go through!."

John turned to Chuck and his voice remained deadly. "Keep that wormhole open as long as you can! I don't care if you have to use the _goddamned ZPMs_ to keep it open. You hold it 'till I come back!" He turned to Aulus. "Samantha is _not_ my mate! But you had better pray to whatever gods you believe in, because if I don't come back with her alive, you're going to _wish_ you had a god to protect you!"

Not giving him a chance to reply, John turned and flat out ran to the science lab where Reyna and Radek had kept the Olim Armor they'd taken from Aquilina. Traveler, Olim and even Alicia had to jump out of his way as he charged through.

He made it there in record time, Reyna had given them all a quick report on the armor and John knew he was the best equipped to potentially use it. Reyna herself had seen him running here and chased after him. "Colonel Sheppard!"

John ignored her and looked around for that headset thingy. He found it on the table next to the scanner and quickly slid it onto his head.

Reyna moved closer and shook her head as she spoke. "Wait! We don't even know how to use that! What do you think you're going to do?"

John ignored her pleas and scoffed. "I don't have _time_ to read a freakin' manual!" He slipped the backpack on and tied it securely to his vest. He closed his eyes and prayed softly as he mentally linked with the backpack.

He felt the oddest sensation of being held in place and the edge of lightheadedness as the liquid Trinium flowed out from the reservoir of the backpack around his torso and arms. It was light as a feather now instead of the 40 odd kilograms it felt like just picking up the backpack. _Must be a feature of the magnetic field._

Reyna now stood in front of him and snarled. "We haven't done enough testing! It could _kill _you!"

Leaning in menacingly John spat his reply. "Only once."

He shoved her out of the way, Reyna was shocked at John's behavior and tapped her headset. "This is Reyna! Colonel Sheppard's taken the Olim Armor we were studying and I think he's heading to the control room! What's going on!?"

Chuck's voice came back gravely, and Reyna understood why John had suddenly turned sociopathic. "_Sam didn't come back, Rey. She's still on the planet."_

Reyna had been helping the evacuees to their assigned areas. Chuck had demonstrated surprising organizational ability and things were going as smoothly as chaos could. When she saw the Jumper come in, she had assumed that Sam had returned along with everyone else.

She ran after John, now understanding his motives. "Colonel Sheppard!"

It was no use though. John had let the armor spread to his entire body except his head. The eyepiece he wore now transmitted information directly to his optical nerve. It was disturbing to hear a disembodied voice that made no sense, but as he ran, he quickly realized that this armor pushed his body beyond the limits of a normal human.

He made it back to the control room even faster than before. He could feel the armor coat his whole body and even regulate the temperature despite his leather jacket underneath. The Olim sure knew how to build 'em.

He stepped into the control room and drew a small amount of twisted pleasure at Aulus's reaction. "Wha… _Colonel Sheppard! _Is that the armor you…?"

Brushing past him, John scoffed and stood above Chuck. "Keep dialing the gate. I'll radio you when I find Sam so you can send a Jumper for us. If I don't make it back, Major Vega is in charge along with Larrin. He looked down at Chuck and gave him a serious stare. "That makes you number two until Cadman gets better. If I don't make it back you can bet I'm going to haunt your ass."

Chuck gulped. John's ability to use humor to convey the darkest feelings was disturbing. "Ye…. Yes sir."

Without another word, John turned and began his descent down the stairs to the 'gate. His only hope was to sneak in and sneak out with as little commotion as possible, and a gun would just draw attention to him. John prayed that this armor made him strong enough to fight off any errant Shade that might find him.

Behind him, he heard several people cry out his name, begging him to stop and explain.

He ignored them all and stepped through the gate as the Olim Armor covered his face and the Neural Link the armor created was finished. The voice was in English now, and John prayed that it wasn't the last voice he'd ever hear.

John _needed_ to do this… he'd left too many people he cared about behind in his life. The fact that he needed both hands to count them boiled his adrenaline. Something Cameron had told him once came clearly in his mind. 'The hardest part of being part of an SG team was watching your friends risk their lives.'

Sam was more than a friend… John didn't know what Sam meant to him exactly, but he could feel his soul weakening at the thought of losing her too.

This was the final straw. John had suffered enough. One way or another his suffering would end today. Either in final sweet penance for his many crimes… or redemption of his lost soul.

* * *

END OF EPISODE 10

**TEASER FOR NEXT EPISODE (Release on Monday/Wednesday/Friday)**

**Episode 11 – Contact Part 3**

158 days in Hoag's Object.

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**Aulus Centaurus:** "You are mad to go after them; The Shade will destroy you and hardly notice."

**Alicia Vega: **"I'd rather die than live knowing I was too spineless to go!"

**Menalus Relatae:** "She goes for her mate Aulus… primitive women are not a rationa…" _*THWACK*_

**Alicia Vega:** _"That comes from every woman on this base!_ You should _sterilize_ this asshole if you worry so much about your goddamned genetic purity!"

**Aulus Centaurus**: "For one as advanced as she is, she certainly acts on her more primal instincts."

**Larrin:** "Keep talking and I'll set the _real_ savages loose on you."

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	14. Contact Part 3 First Third

**Episode 11 – Contact Part 3**

162 days in Hoag's Object.

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_**A/N:** This Episode features a…surprise. I expect a few squeals of "WTF!?" :P I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.  
_

_This Episode is also much more serious than most of the others. It's winding down the action of the previous episode while finishing off this trilogy. (Although there is still PLENTY of action in the first half)_

_It's also a fair bit longer than other episodes. Blame my brain dammit, it all just spewed out! (especially the second half which I actually wrote first. Go figure.)_

_Big thanks to **Alx, TheLegate, **and especially **TheIceMenace.** Each played a significant role in how I structured this episode and **Ice** did the proofreading (she's a bit of a grammar nazi and I'm glad I'm out of physical range of her as I'm sure she'd love to chase after and physically abuse me for all my punctuation errors *which i completely admit i don't care nearly enough about*)_

_Make sure to check out **Ice's** __"Chuck's Canadian Crime Connection" for a good hard laugh. And for unbelievably in-character and deep Lantean history, check out **TheLegate's**__ "Stargate: Aurora". **Ice** is hilarious and I can almost guarantee laughter, while **TheLegate** has a way with atmosphere and words that I envy. (I'm learning though!)_

_So enjoy! Tell your friends! Take a minute from the 20-30 so minutes it took you to read to review! Throw a coconut at me! Whatever! :P just enjoy!_

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**Aulus Centaurus:** "You are mad to go after them; The Shade will destroy you and hardly notice."

**Alicia Vega: **"I'd rather die than live knowing I was too spineless to go!"

**Menalus Relatae:** "She goes for her mate Aulus… primitive woman are not a rationa…" _*THWACK*_

**Alicia Vega:** _"That comes from every woman on this base!_ You should _sterilize_ this asshole if you worry so much about your goddamned genetic purity!"

**Aulus Centaurus**: "For one as advanced as she is, she certainly acts on her more primal instincts."

**Larrin:** "Keep talking and I'll set the _real_ savages loose on you."

* * *

Consciousness slowly came back to Sam, for a moment she wondered if this was the afterlife, but tasting the distinctive mix of copper and dirt in her mouth, she spit it out knowing that the fall had been real.

Lifting her head, Sam took in her surroundings. The dull gunmetal of the walls told he she'd fallen into one of the Olim Sublevels. She wasn't too far from the gate, but looking up the hole she'd fallen through, she realized it'd be impossible to climb back up even at peak physical condition.

Sam tested her appendages one by one, and when she tried to move her right leg the searing hot pain of broken bone tearing muscle. She grimaced and clenched her jaw to keep from screaming. The possibility of any Olim surviving in the area was unlikely.

That's when she noticed it had gotten cold… _very_ cold. She was dressed relatively lightly and wished she could have brought the same style of leather jacket John had worn.

Now fully aware, Sam realized her left leg was pinned underneath a pile of dirt and rubble. She wasn't about to give in though and gently pulled herself with her arms to free herself.

Wincing from the pain in her right leg, Sam slowly pulled out from under the rubble. It proved too much after getting free and Sam flopped to the floor, now free and clear.

Taking a few deep breaths, Sam started to think about what to do. The lights were still on, though flickering, so it was possible she could find an elevator to get out.

Logic began to invade her mind, and Sam made a conclusion based on what Aulus had told her. She was trapped, and even if she could crawl back up to the top ground, it was unlikely she'd be able to survive in the cold. The Shade weren't going to make it any easier either.

Cold hard fact hit her, she was dying. Her leg was likely bleeding internally, if she were lucky no arteries were nicked, but she had no way of knowing until it was too late. The rest of her body was sore and bruised, and she likely had a concussion. Atlantis might try and send a rescue party, but trapped down here they'd _never_ be able to find her. She doubted her subcutaneous transponder would be able to penetrate the alloys of the sub-levels along with all the dirt.

Her own stubbornness had gotten her into this position, and Sam found herself fighting back tears. What was this? She'd been wounded before and that never brought her to tears. Sad realization came over her that this wasn't like those other times. She'd always had her team to watch her back and pull her out of those situations. SG1 would have never allowed her to do such a reckless thing.

Sam had been stabbed, shot, injured, hunted, even smacked around like a ragdoll by a Kull Warrior… but only once before had she been convinced that she was going to die.

Cameron Mitchell wasn't here to keep her going though, and Sam sobbed softly as she wiped her eyes of the tears.

She'd been so concerned over her mission that she'd let herself take on too much vulnerability…she _should_ have gone on the Jumper. She _should _have been worried about her survival as well. That was sloppy, and she'd only done it because she was so sure that she'd be okay…except her team wasn't here with her.

Sam let her head fall back to the ground, and found herself needing comfort. Her right leg throbbed painfully and she grimaced in anguish. With no one but freezing corpses around though, she turned to the last thing she could draw comfort from. "_God… please… please God…."_

To her complete shock, a voice replied. "Well, I wouldn't call myself _God_, but I can see how some people might get confused."

Sam gasped, and she turned to look. His gentle smile, the care and concern in his eyes, the probability of him actually sitting there beside her was so astronomical that she just couldn't make the figures. _"_R-R-_Rodney?!"_

The man sitting there shrugged and seemed genuinely happy. "Nothing but." He looked at himself. "Hmm…forgot what it was like to have a shape like this…did I really have this size body?"

* * *

John gasped as he viewed the devastation of the planet. Not even 20 minutes ago there had just been the beginning of a snow storm, but now the area didn't even look the same.

If it wasn't for the broken and still smoking husk of the Olim ship crashed off to the side ,barely visible through the falling snow and sleet, John would have assumed he was on the wrong planet.

Just as he reached for his radio, a voice in his head said. "_Radio uplink established."_

John crouched down next to the broken remains of the DHD and muttered. "Wha-? Larrin was that you?"

Another voice, this one definitely male. _"Sir? It's Chuck, We didn't say anything."_

Blinking once in confusion, then shaking it off, John spotted the Olim HQ in the distance. "Uhh okay… Could swear I heard a voice."

Again, the female voice spoke _"Alcaeus Armor Virtual Command Prompt. Analyzing User Physiology."_

Halo was the first thing that came to mind. "Cortana?" Admittedly, it was a gut reaction.

When the voice didn't reply, John shook off the momentary distraction and moved forward. The ground ahead of him had been torn apart as if something had used giant claws to scratch at the planet. This complicated matters. Sam could be stuck in one of those fissures…John would have to check each one.

"_Analysis complete. Warning, User Physiology below recommended levels. Recommend Physical and Mental training before attempting to operate advanced functions of Alcaeus Armor."_

Feeling insulted, John spat back as he jumped up onto a new small cliff of rocks. "No time Cortana! Just… Just tell me what you can do!" It felt so stupid, and John knew that when the day was over he'd likely go insane.

"_Alcaeus Armor will respond to "Cortana" Call sign. Cortana is capable of augmenting user strength and speed through magnetic field control of Liquid Trinium. Temperature is maintained at 22 Degrees Celsius via Trinium friction created by magnetic field."_

Raising his eyebrows, John realized that he was actually quite comfortable despite being in the middle of an ice storm. "Okay… I'm looking for someone in this storm. Can you help me with that?"

"_Affirmative, Cortana can track any artificial signal or thermal and radiological emissions."_

Hearing it call itself Cortana and even now morph into the voice from the game was disturbing to say the least. John figured that the suit was just adapting to fit his thought pattern. Another disturbing thought that the suit was probably laughing at.

John realized that it was the damn eyepiece. It was linking to his brain somehow along with the backpack. These Olim were supposed to be different from the Lanteans, but for them to follow a similar yet very different path of technology gave John the willies. "Okay… signal, signal… Oh, uhh in my right arm, there's a subcutaneous transponder, the person I'm looking for would have one as well with a slightly different frequency; can you lock onto it?"

John heard a snarl come from ahead and crouched as he ran along the top of the hillcrest. He wished for some kind of offensive protection but at the same time wanted to be stealthy. 'Cortana' replied. _"Ice Storm and terrain limit effective detection range to 50 feet. Scanners activated."_

The snarl from up ahead grew louder, and John realized he'd have to either fight or run. "Weapons! Do you have any weapons?" John was ready to fight hand to hand as he'd seen the Olim do, but the further he could stay from the Shade the better.

"_Alcaeus Armor is equipped with Magnetic pinch device. Sufficient for stun or kill purposes."_

Ahead of John, a smaller shade came into view and smashed its forearms into the ground tearing up the loose dirt and rocks. John froze for a moment and curled his fists. "How do I use it!?"

"_Subject must concentrate on shooting and aim arm towards target. Projectile will fire from palm."_

Screaming now as the Shade lunged forward at him, John whipped his hand in front of him over and over again. _"Fire fire fire!"_

The Shade jumped up and aimed for John's head.

* * *

"Don't look so surprised, I _ascended,_ I didn't _die_."

Sam closed her eyes, shook her head and had to laugh at the situation. She decided to be blunt as there just wasn't time for pleasantries. "So what…? Are you here to offer me ascension as a way out?"

Rodney shrugged and wiped some dirt away from his shoulder. "Well…that's really a last resort. I know the Other's would be pissed off if I did that and I'm already on their ignore list."

Shaking her head, Sam scoffed. "Then what are you _doing_ here? Why _now_? Why not any other time?"

Moving to the side so Sam could see him better, Rodney answered succinctly. "I'm here because you asked."

Realizing he was talking about her near delirious cry to the heavens, Sam scoffed loudly. "You are _not_ God Rodney…"

The ascended man before her looked wounded. "I never said I _was_!"

Sam looked at him with disbelief. "I thought you were the smartest man in 2 galaxies! Ascended you should be like a Q!"

Again shrugging, Rodney scratched his chin. "Yeah, I always did wonder where Roddenberry got the idea for that…"

Hating that Rodney was being so easily distracted, Sam bucked up her courage and yelled. "_McKay!_ Are you going to help me or _not_?"

Rodney refocused and nodded. "Well... yes! That's why I'm here!"

"Then _help_ me!" Sam motioned to her leg, winced as she tried to move it just a tad to get him to see, then barked. "Well then use those ascended powers! Give me a jacket! Build me a transporter from nothing! _Carry me if you have to! Just…" She took a deep breath trying to push the pain far enough away for her to concentrate. "_Come on, Rodney. I don't have all _day_!"

Instead of moving, Rodney simply stayed in position, his voice trembling like Sam had never heard before. "I…can't."

Sam groaned loudly in frustration, "_Why?_ Dammit I know it was you who stopped the Superhive! If you can do that then why can't you just help me now!?"

Rodney gulped. "The Others won't let me…"

Wincing hard, Sam realized that she'd have to do this on her own. "Then what _good_ are you? Did you just come here to say hi right when I'm about to die?"

"No! I've been around…I kinda _have _to be around actually."

He was speaking in circles, and Sam didn't have time to argue with an ascended Rodney. She pulled her collar towards her teeth and bit down. Mustering her strength, she pulled her left leg forward and nearly screamed at the agony in her right as she dragged herself.

The broken femur had likely nicked a few blood vessels. She needed immediate medical attention. The cold was starting to bother her as well; she could see her breath misting in front of her.

After about 20 feet, the pain proved too much and she needed to rest. Flopping down on the floor, she whimpered softly before muttering. "You know…I actually _do_ appreciate you being here…because I'd rather grit though this pain and try and make it out then listen to your _insane ascended ramblings!_"

Rodney groaned softly and got up. "Well, then good! Because unfortunately that's pretty much the extent of how I can help !" He sighed and rubbed his face in the most human gesture. "Listen, Sam, you _need_ to _focus_. They're coming for you but you need to get topside. They'll never find you down here."

Sam stopped as she rolled over and stared at him. "How do you know?"

Rodney simply smiled and motioned with his head. "Follow me."

* * *

Still a little dazed from breaking the smaller shade in two with the magnetic whatchamacallit weapon, John continued to move out in a search pattern hoping this armor could detect Sam's subcutaneous transponder.

Groans from around as well as the sounds of the wind passing by made it hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. The snow storm was getting worse as well and visibility had dropped significantly.

The armor had worked around it though, and used a strange radar system to map out the terrain into a HUD that was overlaid on his vision.

John continued moving forward with a purpose, hiding inside the torn ridges of dirt, using a zigzag formation to search for Sam. "Cortana?"

The…well whatever it was that was speaking to him, replied. _"System Ready for Input."_

"Uhh…what exactly are you?"

John pulled himself up one of the torn rocks and vaulted onto it. _"Alcaeus armor mental interface."_

Hearing a loud crash from ahead, John saw in his hug a blip appear ahead for a few seconds as he muttered. "Alcae… A A M I… _Amy?"_

To John's surprise, the armor replied. _"Call sign now expanded to include "Amy". Situational awareness subroutine has detected heightened Shade activity. Sensors have detected Gauss weapons technology and marked HUD. Recommend immediate retrieval."_

John clenched his jaw for a second as he looked around. He had no clue what he might encounter, and time was still short. He winced and murmured, "Yer gonna have to teach me to use it, but lead the way."

* * *

"You know, I always… was curious… what it'd be like…to ascend…" Sam grimaced as she clawed her way through the broken halls, her fingernails bleeding from the exertion, "If it means... you have to stand there… and watch your friends in excruciating pain… and shivering from the freezing temperatures…" She gasped and resisted screaming as she pulled herself up the wall to hit the door release. Sam made sure her tone of voice was just a little south of bitter. "…then I'll be more than happy to fade into nothing when I die!"

Rodney groaned and spoke as he walked through the now open door. "I _can't_ do anything, Sam! There's so many issues that you don't know about. I _broke _the_ rules_ saving Atlantis and ever since I've been chained down!"

Sam let her body fall to the ground again, dragging her limp right leg as she used her arms and left leg to crawl along the ground. "And I appreciate that! Really, I do!" She shivered as the pool of ice she was on rasped against her skin. "…but right now what I'd _really _appreciate is a _freakin'_ _jacket!"_

"Sorry. You know I'd help you if I could, Sam, especially after everything that's happened."

Having a conversation with a man that wasn't there seemed oddly familiar to Sam, and she just decided to run with it as she had before. "Everything that's happened?"

Rodney nodded, and he motioned for Sam to take the right hallway. "That way…and yes, I've seen everything that's happened. I saw the Wraith, I saw the Asurans, I saw the coup, I've even…" Rodney twitched suddenly, and he looked up with his hands defensively up. "_Okay okay! Sorry."_

Sam stopped in her tracks. Her fingers had turned into claws from the cold and rubbed them together to get warm. She looked up to Rodney and muttered. "What? Who are you…?" She realized something as she sat there, suddenly feeling a _lot_ more exposed. "Hey, _wait a second!_ You've been _watching_ me!?"

Rodney turned from looking up and gave her the wounded expression he knew so well. "What? No! Well… _Yes_, but not the way you're thinking! I'll admit, I kept an eye on you and Sheppard after and…" he shrugged around a bit. "… I may have seen a thing or two I wasn't expecting,"

Sam shuddered thinking about everything she'd done since arriving in this galaxy. "Thanks, that's _exactly_ what I need to worry about now! I'll never take a shower in peace again!"

Rodney got a shocked expression as he turned to Sam. "Sam! I would _never_ do that!"

Sam scoffed and shivered, the cold was getting worse and her arms were trembling to try to keep her warm. "Oh I'm _sure_ you've never peeked once!" Rodney was blushing now, Sam called him out instantly. What kind of Ascended being _blushes? _ "You _HAVE _peeked!"

Defending himself with words was the only thing left to Rodney. "I have not!

Sam scoffed and continued moving. "Yes, you have!"

"Have not!" spat Rodney.

"Have!"

"Have not!"

"Have!"

"Have not!

Feeling ridiculous, Sam ended it with two words. "_Prove it!_" She felt oddly proud for having beaten an ascended being at a word game… even if it was just McKay.

Seeing that he'd have to put up or shut up, Rodney groaned and pointed down the hallway. "_I have not!_ Moreover, how _exactly_ am I supposed to prove it? You'll just have to take my word as an honorable being of unimaginable power." Sam scoffed and groaned as her leg sent a stabbing pain up into her torso. "But you've got to keep going! The elevator's that way!"

Sam growled irritably and kept on crawling. "I swear Rodney…when I get back to Atlantis I'm convincing Daniel to ascend and _kick your ASS!"_

Rodney scoffed and muttered incomprehensively before answering. "I'd be more scared of Sheppard but he's got his own problems right now."

Sam flopped down onto the floor, cursed whatever hell spawn had decided to tease her with Rodney being a cheerleader and nothing else, and began to crawl again despite the haziness in her vision. "His own…?" As she crawled, the realization came to her. "…_goddamnit… _he's coming after me, isn't he?" Sam stopped, not only because of the epiphany, but also because she'd hit a fork in the road.

Rodney nodded. "Did you think he wouldn't?"

Sam thought about it, John had been the one who forced her to let him go for Cadman's team on Larrus, what were a couple of hostile silicon based life forms compared to the war machine of the Genii? It was a safe bet he'd be coming for her and Sam had only just realized it.

Sam was about to ask Rodney where to go when the ascended man continued his speech. "He's Sheppard… it's what he does. Granted he's a little more suicidal nowadays but I think that's mostly because he doesn't really know what to do. In fact…"

Feeling the aneurysm begin, Sam snapped at him. "_McKay!_"

"Yes?"

Sam gritted her teeth as she motioned down the hallways. "Which _way?_"

Realizing they'd been standing there for several seconds, Rodney pointed to the right hallway. "That way! It'll take you right to the elevator."

Muttering under her breath as she dragged herself across the floor, Sam wished for that skateboard she knew John kept under his bed.

* * *

A rock flew past John… a rather _large_ rock. He ducked and rolled as the suit's warning began to beep. _"Take Evasive Action, Class Two Shade Creature approaching from rear."_

Running became much more important and John was glad he maintained his runs with Ronon. The large Shade behind him seemed to just appear from out of nowhere since visibility was so short ranged. It landed right where John had been standing and dug a large crater with its forearms.

John could see what _Cortana_ or _Amy_ or whatever the hell this thing was calling itself was telling him about. It was a downed Olim ship that had crashed and rolled over onto its side. Large gaps and torn open hull sections appeared highlighted in his vision.

Spinning his arm around, John used the Magnetic Bubble weapon the Alcaeus Armor was equipped with. He spun his hand underhanded and a small piece of the liquid Trinium armor solidified and spat out at supersonic speed from the high-powered and very controlled magnetic pulse.

It smacked against the Large Shade creature stunning it momentarily. A divot was shattered off its exoskeleton spraying out like a bullet impact.

John made it to the ship and hopping up, managed to climb into the torn craft. He grimaced slightly at the condition of the 20 or so bodies that lay sprawled about, but he had no time for that and ran to where the marker was pointing.

It was a small armory, and one item in particular seemed to stand out. "Hey! How do I use this thing!?"

John picked up and held the rather large weapon on his shoulder. It seemed to be arm mounted and had a large barrel with coils around it. The interface replied. _"Insert hand into trigger guard and initiate hard line link."_

Somewhere in the back of John's head he understood that that meant he needed to be physically touching the device in order to fire it. He flipped it around and stuck his hand in what looked like a likely hole.

A loud groan that seemed to be a cross between a scream came from outside, and a large section of the hull tore apart and came loose exposing the Shade creature behind it. _"Oh, shit!"_

Holding it in the most natural way he could, John aimed the bulky looking weapon. He braced himself and waited till the creature and torn a large enough hole in the 20 foot high hull for it to move through.

Thinking about firing, John aimed hastily using the reticule the eyepiece put over his head; for a second nothing happened, but a sudden staticy wash came over John and a tingling sensation.

The coils of the weapon charged with enough energy to glow, and what looked like a railway spike shot out faster that just about any weapon John had ever used. He realized now it was an arm-mounted railgun that rivaled those of _Daedalus_.

He felt a slight push, and the suit alarm beeped again. _"Warning, replace power pack at earliest convenience. 20% power remaining."_

John didn't pay too much attention as he surveyed the damage caused by the surprisingly low recoil weapon. It had broken a hole through the creature's left forearm, and punched through its thick crystal carapace body. Boiling fluid seeped out and sizzled as it howled and thrashed about as if in great pain.

Worried now that the suit was telling him it was running out of power, John tossed the gauss cannon to the floor and grabbed one of the more sensible looking rifles. He quickly slung it around his back and ran through the downed ship.

It was roughly the same size as the nose section of the Daedalus, and quickly John scurried through the blackened halls to the other side. Another fissure in the hull gave him a quick way out.

He'd evaded this Shade, but as John looked to the map in his HUD, there were still places to look, and with the terrain so different it was difficult to figure out a proper search pattern, let alone a safe one.

Now armed though, he forgot about stealth and began to run. The Olim HQ was the best place to look, so that's where he trudged now, hoping, praying that somehow Sam had survived this massacre.

* * *

"What do you mean _he's gone?"_

Chuck looked a little nervous as he replied, he'd heard that Alicia was a force to be reckoned with when angered. "He took the armor we confiscated from Aquilina and…" Chuck motioned to the still open wormhole.

Alicia winced and cursed under her breath. She should have seen this. _Dammit,_ she of _all_ people should have seen this coming and… and she wouldn't have done a thing to stop him. "Goddamnit!" She turned and stomped over to where Larrin was in Sam's office arguing with the Olim leaders. It was obvious she wasn't having a good time.

Breaking through the crowd of Olim. Alicia interrupted the discussion _(i.e. Argument)_ and scowled at the Olim. "You bastards! This is _all_ your fault!"

Menalus growled loudly and faced off with Alicia. "Our people have suffered even more than yours and you dare accuse us? Colonel Carter knowingly did what she did and for a primitive she has certainly earned my respect."

Aulus held his hand up and separated the two of them. "Major is it? I grieve for your loss. Colonel Carter was much more than any of us expected. She has shown the mettle of your people and I am ashamed of our behavior. I do not know what drives Colonel Sheppard, but we are not to blame for this."

Alicia growled angrily and turned to Larrin. "I'm taking a Jumper and I'm going after them!"

Larrin narrowed her eyes in surprise, but after a moment's hesitation nodded. "Take some bigger guns. You'll need em."

Aulusraised his eyebrows in shock. "You are mad to go after them! The Shade will destroy you and hardly notice."

Turning and ready to spit acid, Alicia barked. "I'd rather _die_ than live knowing I was too spineless to go!"

From behind Alicia, Menalus muttered over her shoulder to Aulus "She goes for her mate, Aulus… primitive woman are not a rationa…"

**_*THWACK*_**

Had there been a camera in Sam's office, Larrin would have reproduced the video of Alicia's eyes going wide, and her fist curling as she spun.

A slap would have been appropriate, a punch deserved. But the cruel backhanded strike that knocked Menalus across his jaw hard enough to send him onto the couch behind him was exactly what Larrin thought he needed.

Her hand sore, Alicia snarled at Menalus. _"That comes from every woman on this base!_ " She then turned to Aulus and put the same hand's fingers up to his face as she pointed to Menalus. "You should _sterilize_ this asshole if you worry so much about your _goddamned_ genetic purity!" With that, she pushed her way out of the room and headed towards the Jumper Bay.

Aulus looked over to Menalus and sighed. He then turned to Larrin and said. "For one as advanced as she is, she certainly acts on her more primal instincts."

Larrin had never felt prouder. "Keep talking and I'll set the _real_ savages loose on you."

* * *

"You _have_ been spying on me!"

Sam's teeth chattered as she hauled herself up to the elevator. The temperature was dropping fast and it wouldn't be long before she started feeling the effects of hypothermia. Her fingers were already frozen claws as were her feet that she could hardly move.

Rodney remained by her side the entire time, perfectly comfortable in his… well what did an ascended wear? "No! No I never even peeked in your _quarters! _ I…I just happened to see you and Sheppard that night after Proculus and…"

Feeling _very_ embarrassed now, Sam just tried to concentrate on the elevator ahead of her. "So you saw…?" She left the question hanging. A lot happened that night.

"Well…yes…and a few things here and there in the 2 months after… "

"Doesn't matter… doesn't matter." Sam felt so cold now, the frost had permeated her clothes and her entire body was trembling. In the edges of her vision, she could see her lips had begun to turn blue.

Rodney groaned softly and leaned back on the wall. "Of _course_ it matters! I'll admit I never saw it coming which in itself speaks _volumes_ to how much I actually _didn't_ know compared to what I _did_ know back then…"

Even ascended, Rodney still babbled. Sam rolled her eyes and tapped the Up button on the elevator shutting the door on Rodney.

She let herself fall back to the floor, repressing a scream as her leg cried out. Sam closed her eyes and winced hard, feeling whatever elevated this car up to the main floor. This wasn't the same elevator she'd taken down the control room, and she prayed that it would be easier to get outside.

Not surprisingly, Rodney's voice remained with her. "You know, it's not nice to close the door on people."

Sam blinked away the tears in her eyes, felt the moisture begin to freeze in the cold and blinked it away. It was getting harder and harder, each breath drew cold air into her lungs that constricted and hurt her insides. "It's also not nice to refuse to give your jacket to a lady if she's _freezing to death!"_

Rodney groaned softly and sat down across from Sam. The elevator was moving slowly, as if low on power. "Oh, come on! I am helping you as _much_ as I can…you're halfway there."

Sam grimaced and whined. "Are you _serious!?_ _I-I can't do this!_" She bowed her head and wrapped her arms around her head. "I-I can't, Rodney..." Sam whimpered as her leg cried out again. The dull throbbing had grown to a much stronger sharp pain, probably from crawling almost a hundred feet through freezing metal, dirt and ice.

Rodney got up and said. "No, Sam! You-you _can't_ give up_ now! _ You _have_ to go! You can't stay here!"

Sam winced to hold back the sob, the elevator kept moving slowly and now she just felt exhausted. "Rodney…I'm just so tired…I just-I just want to _sleep_."

"_No no no!_ You…you _have_ to stay awake!" Rodney moved in front of Sam and put his hands mere centimeters above her shoulders. "Sam you _have _to keep going!"

"Why?" Sam whimpered. She just wanted it all to end. Even if she survived, even if the others came for her and she actually survived, the numb feeling in her hands told her frostbite wasn't far off. "Did you mean it…could you help me ascend?"

Rodney pulled back and sat down. "… Yes…yes, if you were dying and there was nothing that could be done…yes, I could help you ascend."

Sam felt the elevator come to a halt, and the door opened enough for her to squeeze through, ice crystals broke and fell as the door moved, and Sam could even feel the moisture in her nose and mouth start to freeze up. "….I think you might have to…I…"

Rodney shook his head and pointed out the door. "No… _no! _The Sam Carter I know wouldn't give up this easily! She wouldn't think of ascending when she knew there was a chance of survival!"

"She's…gone. Rodney…gone…"Sam figured if Rodney was going to speak in riddles, so would she. "She died in Pegasus… I am all that's left."

Now frowning, Rodney glared at her. "No! Sam, you have to know…there's, uhh…" Sam couldn't help but smile as Rodney quickly invented something. "You, uhh, you have a, uh, _destiny! _You're not supposed to die here Sam! As an ascended being, I can look into the timelines and I can see you _have_ to live! There's a lot waiting for you and-and you have to live for a _really,_ _really_ long time!"

Sam started laughing. It was the _stupidest_ thing she'd ever heard. "Ascending hasn't made you a better liar…" She sniffled, and winced as she felt the ice trickle into her sinuses. "_I'm so cold Rodney_… I'm losing too much blood and-and I'm _freezing_!

Please…_please_ help me ascend. Don't let me die here alone on this goddamn frozen _rock_. _I don't want to die, Rodney…_" Her voice cracked as she let a single sob out. She'd prayed to God for a miracle and here it was standing before her. Maybe not the miracle she would have wanted, but better than nothing.

Rodney winced and clenched his fists in frustration. He'd shown up to help his friend survive and if necessary, help her to ascend, but he wasn't going to do it if it wasn't the last resort. "Sam… listen to me… you're right, I _am_ lying. But, you know you have a life out there… The Sam Carter I knew didn't die in Pegasus… she's right here…"

Finally, since appearing to her almost 20 minutes ago, Rodney leaned forward with his hand and pressed it against her chest right below her neck. Sam gasped as she felt his warmth in her throat, permeating it. _"Rodney?"_

Rodney sighed and kept his hand where it was. "You're still in there, Sam. You've just forgotten. You need to have a reason to keep fighting. _Don't_ give up now." Rodney winced and removed his hand, the warmth from his touch spread and Sam felt a little stronger. "I shouldn't have done that…the Others will come. I want you to promise me you'll climb out of this hole and start living again."

Sam took deep breaths, the cold air warmed in her throat and her lungs got new life in them. "… I was never really alive to begin with…" Sam realized what Rodney meant by '_living_ _again'_. She'd tried and failed, because her methodology was wrong. She was trying to replace a variable that she thought was a constant.

"That may be true, but you know what you have to do Sam." Rodney paused for a moment and winced. "They're here…" Rodney put his hand on her back this time as Sam began to crawl to the elevator. "_Swear it_ Sam! _Swear_ you'll crawl out of this godforsaken hole and start living again! Sam, _please_!"

Sam whimpered as her leg throbbed again, but her back felt warm suddenly, her muscles gaining new strength. '…I-I _swear_."

Pulling herself through the door. Rodney's voice faded as he spoke. "I'll always be around Sam! Atlantis is my home! Make it yours!"

Falling onto her side and rolling, Sam watched as tendrils of energy seeped down through the ceiling and grabbed onto Rodney who began to glow. "Rodney!"

His face seemed reluctantly nervous, and Rodney cried out one last sentence. "Go Home, Sam! Go _home!_"

With that, Rodney was gone.


	15. Contact Part 3 Second Third

_**A/N:** During the DF mid-season break, i'm going to be posting another story titled **"Occupational Hazard"** in the SG1 Archives (i've already posted the first chapter) it's shorter faster paced story, so updates as soon as my beta finishes betaing them :P It's already gotten ridiculous numbers of hits/reviews/alerts so it's worth your while to check it out i'd wager ;)  
_

_Not say say DF is __completely on Hiatus, There will be updates... __of a sort._

_One more chapter after this one and Contact Part 3 is over. I'd love to hear some thoughts on the whole 3 parter. _

_Once the holidays are relatively over, i'll continue posting episodes :) Go to Gateworld to see a preview of the next half season. _

_Again, thank you all for reading, and remember, Reviews are love! just takes a minute... come on... you know you wanna press that big green button down there :)_

* * *

John rushed forward and jumped across the fissure. He wondered just what this armor would be capable of at full power as he overshot and landed on the edge of yet _another _fissure. He could even see down into the torn earth where the Olim Sublevels were.

It was possible Sam had fallen in there and was lost. Actually, it was likely given that he had yet to find her signal despite now almost fifteen minutes of searching. Logic told him that if she'd ended up down there, then she'd head for familiar territory and probably try to go up the Olim HQ that still stood, albeit in shredded pieces.

An alarm rang in his head and he saw ahead where 2 smaller Shade stood in his way, they seemed to be digging in the ground despite the large holes already formed. He had absolutely no clue what these things were doing but he didn't want them to see him.

It was too late though, and the creatures raised their… _Are those their heads? _At John and began to ease forward. John reacted quickly and raised the Gauss rifle.

It was disorienting to see the reticule on his vision, it wasn't anything like the reticules he'd seen in video games and instead distracted him more than anything. He aimed carefully and squeezed off a shot at the Shade to the right.

The gauss projectile left a steam trail as it melted the snow in the air, then cracked the Shade creature it hit in half with its massive kinetic force. The small creature gibbered for a moment then lay still in a pool of its own boiling… _whatever the hell that stuff is!_

The other Shade seemed to recognize it was in danger, and instead of lunging at John, it instead jumped into the air and vanished into the storm. John was left aiming at smoke and snow and he holstered the rifle around his back again. "Cortana, any luck finding that signal?"

"_Negative. Search parameters have not been met, and search pattern has been erratic. Recommend standard grid search pattern."_

Wincing, and looking at the mission time clock in his HUD, John knew that he was screwed. "No time! Can't you extend the range or something?" He was just quoting technobabble from Star Trek Voyager, the sci-fi show Sam loved because she could shut her brain off to it and just laugh.

"_System can boost power to sensor module. Warning! System operating at eighteen percent reserve power. Boosting sensors will expand radius to 150 feet over flat terrain, leaving seven percent power remaining. Do you wish to proceed?"_

Seeing how he'd gotten nowhere but into fights, John clenched his fist and sighed. "Do it. How long will I have at seven percent?"

A loud crash came from ahead, and John instantly turned to it. It was coming from the Olim HQ off in the distance. _"At current average usage per minute, System estimates 37 minutes until power failure."_

Thirty Seven minutes. John laughed at how close it was to the Stargate's own limit. He didn't laugh long though, as a blip suddenly appeared off in the distance. "Hey… is that the signal!?"

"_Analyzing, Signal is artificial in nature. Signal too degraded for positive identification."_

John didn't care, he just recalled everything Ronon had ever taught him about running and bolted.

* * *

Alicia had barreled through the people in the Jumper Bay, many of them Olim who were having trouble getting used to the idea of the Travelers with their weapons. She'd passed her team and hadn't said a word.

She couldn't ask any of them to join her. This was something she had to do in order to be able to live with herself… that is if she survived. Memories of the Hylea and how damaged that Jumper had ended up were fresh in her mind, but Alicia didn't hesitate as she dragged a crate with an AT-4 into the Jumper.

She hopped into the pilot's seat and started the Jumper up. John always changed the preferences to his own and the speed of the mental link he used was disorienting. She preferred a mix of the manual controls as well as the mental. Alicia had just finished the final check when she heard the aft hatch beginning to close.

Alicia turned in her seat and watched as Drake dropped his own crate onto the floor of the Jumper with Dusty and Ronon beside him holding M249s. Her voice caught as she tried to order them to stay.

Drake shook his head before she could recover and opened his crate. Inside lay a FGM-148 Javelin Anti-Tank Missile System. It was by far the strongest weapon the Expedition had for its ground component. "Just. Fly."

Looking at Dusty and Ronon, they both gave nods of agreement. Alicia held back a gasp as she finally understood what John had told her about those under your command. She didn't deserve them… but _gods be damned_, Alicia Vega was going to either earn the right to lead these people, or die trying.

* * *

Sam's hands had lost all feeling about three minutes ago, but it didn't matter. Her heart, and more importantly, her soul were alight with flame she didn't know still existed. Her leg still hurt a twinge, but she'd banished it to a dark recess of her mind.

Rodney was right, and even more, _she'd_ been wrong. It was still hard to admit it, and she would never speak of word of this to anyone except maybe John… and even then it wouldn't be now. The pain felt good, something which surprised Sam as she used a loose conduit running along the wall as a tether to pull herself along.

The pain of everything she'd been burying for months felt good because it was the first true feeling she'd had in as long a time. There were no more justifications, no rationalizing her life into neat little sections. Soldier Sam… Girl Sam… Silly Sam…even Romantic Sam had all been compartmentalized and never given the chance to fully grow and interact. Well… except for Soldier Sam… what she fell back on whenever things got tough.

Sam used it as an excuse to get out of what she wanted, because she thought it was weak, Sam knew she was happy dammit! She didn't _need_ someone in her life she could come home to, she didn't _need_ someone whom she could drop the shield around and express what she really felt. Sam didn't need any of that; least of all a _man_ in order to be happy.

But that didn't mean Sam didn't _want _it, and now as she clawed her way to the outside, now using her bloodied fists to scrape along the ground passing the threshold, Sam knew what she wanted.

The methodology had been wrong. She didn't know what she wanted before and went about it the wrong way. Missed opportunities hurt like hell, but fucking up… was inexcusable.

The cold wind ripped at her torn jacket, her cheeks barely feeling the effects after almost 26 minutes in sub-zero temperatures. Sam had frostbite, she knew that, more than likely they'd have to perform surgery and gods knew what else.

But Sam also knew from John's own stories that Carson would stop at nothing to keep her intact, and with that thought, Sam took a deep breath of the cold air, still warmed by Rodney's ascended trick with her lungs, and collapsed face first in the snow in front of the Olim HQ after dragging her broken body out of the frozen hell she'd fallen in.

* * *

"_Warning, Multiple Class Two Shade creatures on approach vector. Recommend Stealth Mode."_

John had just jumped up onto a large torn mound of dirt and muttered. "Stealth mode?"

Instantly he felt a jarring pain in the back of his skull. Almost like an ant or an earwig or some other disgusting animal had burrowed in and was eating the back of his brain. "_Stealth Mode Activated, Warning, Backup Power Reserves will fail in 3 minutes. Warning, User Physiology not sufficient for advanced procedure."_

John fell to his knees from the pain and screamed. "_Argh! The _hell _are you doing to me?"_

Above him, a trio of the larger Shade creatures began to loft by, John tried to raise his arms in defense but could only see haze where his arms should be. In fact it looked suspiciously like Aquilina had during the fight 3 three days ago. "_Alcaeus armor utilizes reflective properties of Trinium armor in concert with extra-sensory perception of user to create active camouflage system. User does not have sufficient activated neurons for procedure to operate at standard level, Pain and potential brain damage may occur."_

The pain itself had died down, and John took a moment to clear his head. Sam was potentially just over the next ridge, but seeing those three giant Shade in the skies told him he was lucky to have found out about this system now. "Why didn't you tell me about this stealth system before?"

As John forced himself up, he decided the risk was worth the reward and pushed forward. If he found Sam, then he could radio Atlantis to send a Jumper. _"Full System Tutorial is not available in combat. Three minutes Power remaining."_

'_Crap',_ was all John could think, he tried to push the pain out of his head, but it was kinda hard when it was stuck in there. So instead he focused on his mission, and jumped down from the rock heading towards the signal the suit had found. "Any luck matching that signal?"

"_Analyzing. Match Confirmed. Signal is similar to implant in User. Locking on."_

The blip in the HUD intensified, and John shook off the pain in his head. He had to get to her, there was no other option.

"_Warning, unknown energy projectile detected. Radio signal intercepted"_

Not bothering to slow down, John leaped up and over the jutting rock that stuck out of the ground and landed in a crouch. A sound of shattering and explosion came from behind and he instantly knew it was a Jumper firing drones. The Radio signal came in staticy. _"...nel Sheppa… ega… Respond!"_

John's throat constricted as he looked ahead, about 40 feet in front of him the blip ended and highlighted a body lying on the floor. John refused to let the fear and panic take over and forced his feet to act. "This is Sheppard! I found Sam! Lock onto my signal!" He barked furiously as he ran. "Cortana! Put out a signal strong enough for anyone with sensors to pick up!"

The female voice of the suit's virtual mental interface only spurned him on as it complained. _"Warning, Request will drain suit's energy levels to critical. Do you wish to pro…"_

John skidded to a halt and slipped on the snow below him. He fell to the ground harmlessly and screamed. "Yes yes yes! Just make sure they can see me!"

"_Signal broadcasting, Stealth mode disabled. 1% energy remaining. System shut down commencing."_

As John clambered to his feet, he could feel the cold of the wind around begin to nip at him. The suit was retracting the Trinium armor and shutting down. Timing it seemed was just as bad here as it was in Pegasus. "Sam! Sam!"

It was obviously her; the hair was a dead giveaway even if the eyepiece didn't ping with her subcutaneous implant's signal. He finally knelt next to her and beat down the panic. With a gentle touch, he lifted her by her shoulders and flipped her onto her back.

The cold air freely tore at John, flapping his hair and jacket around relentlessly. He could only imagine how long Sam had been exposed to turn her skin a pale blue. _"Sam…"_

The eyepiece still had power, and as if reading his thoughts, the female voice of the suit gave a final message. _"Warning, power failure imminent. Subject has class two fracture of main right thigh bone, and class one exposure to extreme cold. Recommend immediate medicaaaaa…."_

With a lowering pitch as the suit lost power, John let the thing slide off his back and clatter to the ground. All he cared about was getting Sam off this frozen rock. He took his jacket off and forgetting about his own discomfort, wrapped it around Sam.

To his joy, she let out a barely audible whimper as her head flopped around. John pulled her into a close embrace to share body heat, gritting his teeth and bearing the pain of her cold skin on his. "Sam…"

He heard a small whimper in her throat, and as he picked her up, he could swear he heard her say "_J-J-J…"_

It was too cold, and John couldn't make out what she was trying to say. It didn't matter. John knew why he'd come here and…_that_ wasn't it. Whatever she was trying to say it could wait. He unclipped her radio from her vest and called out as he looked into the skies. "Jumper! This is Sheppard! I've got Sam and need immediate evac!"

The signal came clearly now, and John could swear he heard cursing in the background. "_Coming in hot sir! These bastards are fast!"_

John heard it before he spotted the Jumper, He quickly raced over with Sam in his arms, the entire time mumbling incoherently. John could feel in her leg the looseness of the broken bone and prayed that she hadn't cut any arteries.

To his surprise, a rocket burst out from the back of the Jumper and slammed into the Shade creature following it. Another 2 Shade were on its tail though and were driven off by thunderous suppressive fire from what John could only guess was an M249.

Spinning around on it's axis, the Jumper spat out yet another drone and shredded one of the large shade creatures apart. The Jumper touched down in a slide landing, almost like a car skidding to a halt.

The hatch was down and John could make out Ronon and Drake, Ronon holding the machine gun, and Drake tossing the spent AT-4 launcher to the ground and picking up something bigger.

Neither of them said anything as they raced out, and Dusty waved to John to get inside as she aimed out. The entire squad had come for them and were covering the Jumper as John got inside.

Drake hefted the Javelin onto his shoulder and knew he had to get another kill today. He flicked the tracker on and switched to Infrared mode. The cold of the environment made for perfect conditions and Drake could see the warm greenish orange of the last Shade creature above them circling. The other wounded one having retreated.

He thumbed down both switches and the sights jumped to a 9x magnification. He input the targeting lock just as the Shade creature began its descent.

The final trigger was pulled and Drake was pushed back into the Jumper by the relatively light recoil of the missile launching. It swooped upwards first, then curved like a fighter jet towards its target.

The Shade creature had no idea that eighty thousand dollars worth of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin's ingenuity was heading its way, and did nothing to avoid the armor piercing weapon. The primary warhead detonated and bored a hole right to the center of the Jumper sized creature, depositing its main kill charge in its internal chamber.

With a magnificent explosion, the Shade Creature detonated in a beautiful shower of shattered crystal and boiling sulfuric acid. Drake got teo cheers and pumps of his fist in victory before Ronon grabbed his collar and dragged him into the Jumper's forward section.

Alicia lifted the Jumper off the ground even before the hatch closed, and almost didn't dare look back at John as he sat holding Sam in his arms. Her skin was blue and her chest barely rising with labored breaths. Alicia fought back the emotions of losing her and forced herself to concentrate. She activated the cloak and headed towards the sStargate.

No one said anything, Sam's incomprehensible muttering the only noise, and soon even that ended as she lost consciousness. Alicia may not have cared about Sam in the same way she knew John cared about her, but as she turned to Drake who had changed to his thousand yard stare of near shock, Alicia knew nobody on the base would be able to handle losing Samantha Carter easily… if at all.

* * *

The jumper passed through the gate into pandemonium. The Olim were still being organized and several were causing the Traveler security issues. John simply didn't think about it and held Sam's limp body in his arms.

In the front section, Ronon, Alicia and Drake were silent, they both knew that John needed to remain alone for now, his mind too focused to think of anything else.

Almost calmly, John tapped his radio and called. "Carson to the Jumper Bay…. Carson Beckett to the Jumper Bay…."

The Doctor was already in there, some of the Olim had refused to leave the area out of fear and were being treated right there. Carson looked over to Reyna and motioned her to follow.

The Jumper touched down without incident and the hatch cracked open, the tears along the hull of the craft showed how close it had been… but Carson drew a sharp breath in as he saw John limp out holding Sam in his arms. "Oh, sweet God…"After a moment's shock, Carson instantly barked out orders, "Stretcher! I need a stretcher here on the double!"

It was only moments for the stretch to arrive, and John carefully laid the unconscious Sam on it. Reyna took her hand in his hand and gasped. "Good lord… she's nearly frozen…" He motioned to Carson again and she attached a BVM to Sam's mouth to help her already incredibly shallow breathing. "What…?"

Knowing exactly what Carson and Reyna were going to ask, John simply muttered it. "She's got a broken leg… and she was barely conscious when I found her." Looking at Sam's almost blue face made John sick. Reyna yanked out the field kit in the bottom of the stretcher and tossed the thermal blanket around Sam. She looked odd just lying there, John's jacket still around her and expression frozen both literally and figuratively.

"Sam…_Sam!"_

It was Daniel, he'd come rushing in from the control room and skidded to a halt next to John who held him back from teh medics. "Jackson…"

Daniel gave John a bewildered look, and immediately peppered Carson with questions. "Is she okay? What happened? What can we do?"

Carson shirked as he put his stethoscope on Sam's chest and shook his head at Daniel. "Doctor, _please!_ We need to get her under a scanner as soon as possible. The less you're in the way the better!"

Reyna gave Daniel a reassuring look and gave John one of astonishment. John simply stood there with his full concentration on Sam. "She's freezing, Jackson. I found her just outside the Olim HQ."

Carson and Reyna began to spit doctor speak amongst themselves, John ignored it and looked at Daniel as the archeologist took John's shoulder. "Thank you, John. Aulus said he was sure she had fallen with the rest of his troops defending the last group, but I _knew_… I knew she wasn't dead."

John repressed his gasp of sorrow. When he'd seen Sam's body lying face down on the ground, obscured by the snow and ice, he'd almost given up.

He should have remembered that Sam was so much stronger than he'd been recently and how liberating it had felt to go after her. "Dunno how she made it. It looks like she fell into that big subbasement and somehow she crawled all the way up there with a broken leg. She _should_ be dead."

Daniel sighed and squeezed John's shoulder harder. John could tell the Archeologist was near tears and wanted to hug John for bringing her back, but this wasn't the time to be emotional. John had accomplished what he'd set out to do and he had responsibilities now. Responsibilities that Sam would want him to take care of. "Daniel, where's Aulus?"

Daniel watched as Carson and Reyna pulled Sam away and shook his head idly as he was overcome. "Huh?"

Behind John, Ronon and Alicia surrounded him giving their silent comfort but John would have none of it . He didn't need it. "Aulus, the Olim colony leader. I'm sure he'll want to talk to me."

Daniel looked at John in shock, but after a moment he just sputtered. "He… he's up in the control room…" Seeing John simply begin to walk away, Daniel called out. "Wait! John! What about Sam!?"

John turned his head and silently made his position clear. "She'd want me to do this."

* * *

"I must admit. Your people surprise me, Colonel."

John rubbed the side of his nose and refrained from throttling the man seated in front of him. "We get that a lot."

Aulus sighed and his jaw moved from side to side pensively. "I understand you succeeded in bringing back Colonel Carter. That was a very brave thing to do."

Again, John wanted to just strangle the old man in front of him until his eyes bulged out. "You can think of it that way. _We_ don't leave people behind."

Raising an eyebrow, Aulus replied quickly. "I wish the same could be said of the Olim, but we have been at war for so long. Casualties are a fact of life."

John leaned forward and clenched his fists. "Colonel Carter has saved my people more times than I can count. She's a hero on my homeworld and even in my home galaxy. It wasn't a hard decision to go back for her."

Aulus narrowed his eyes and focused on John. His words were quiet so as not to travel across the bridge to the control room. "You speak the truth. But you care for her a great deal. I was wrong to assume you were mates before, but I know true friendship when I see it."

Seeing that Aulus was _trying _to be friendly, John decided to forgo the terse voice. "Yes, I do care about her. She saved me from being taken from this place and I owe her everything I have. So you can understand why I respect her so much and am quite offended by your treatment." Even without the tone, it was obvious John's meaning,

Aulus blushed slightly at the accusation, and he straightened his posture. "Yes… I do ask your forgiveness for that. You must understand that up until recently, my people were sure that we were the only… what word do you use to describe our appearance?"

John fought a smirk. "Humanoid."

"Right. Humanoid. We were convinced we were the only ones in this Galaxy. The Alterra left us the task of finding their outposts in order to learn the secrets of our own evolution. The Shade were left as our test… and the others as well."

"Others? What others?"

Aulus sighed and nodded. "Yes… yes you have only begun to explore this galaxy. My people have been using the Astria Portia system for almost 20 generations… I will personally petition our council to provide you with information regarding our explorations for you to use."

John was confused now. "Wait… if you already explored them, then why would we want to do the same?"

A soft dejected sigh emitted from Aulus's mouth, and he mused softly. "The Olim are not a vast conquering people, Colonel. We first encountered the Shade when we had only interstellar travel. Our first attempts at expansion using the Astra Portia resulted in thousands of deaths from the Shade and other forces in the galaxy. Most of the worlds we have charted have not been visited in many, if not hundreds, of years."

John caught the intonation, and despite how tired he was he knew he had to press for it now. "_Other _forces? Aulus, what's out there?"

The man remained silent a moment, then spoke softly. "The Alterra left us explicit instructions to take as long as we needed to reclaim this galaxy. Evolution has many paths, Colonel Sheppard. I will do you the courtesy of having my technical staff give you a list of planets you will want to avoid."

"Why?" It was a fair question, but John could tell he wasn't going to get an answer.

Aulus hesitated a second, and then turned away. "I will have to speak to the council before I can say more…but suffice it to say that you should avoid the inner rim of this ring galaxy. There are worlds within the ring though that not even we go to in force." Before John could speak again, Aulus held his hand up. "Allow me to finish. The Olim are not the strongest force in this galaxy. We control 7 planets within 20 light years of each other and that is the range of our main influence. We establish colonies, or like Magna Secundus, listening outposts to monitor Shade Advances."

Raising his eyebrows, John's eyes tensed. "Wait… so that wasn't a colony at all?"

Aulus shook his head. "Not in a true sense. We used our technology to mine specific minerals we use in construction and as fuel… but the primary focus of Magna Secundus was to monitor the Shade. We had no idea they were going to attack so suddenly. We would have gladly postponed our meeting with you."

John was dumbfounded, this just didn't make sense. "Wha-why would you use 3000 people and 2 dozen ships to…" That's when he realized it. "Bait… Magna Secundus was _bait_."

Aulus didn't budge an inch, but he nodded gently. "You are very perceptive, Colonel. Even now a task force of Olim ships is striking at the Shade force that destroyed Magna Secundus. I feel terrible that this had to happen during our first meeting, but we could not stall our plans that have been in preparation for almost a year."

John didn't care anymore. It had been obvious to him right from the start and this was just reaffirming his beliefs. "Your people can spend the night in Atlantis, but if you and your entire staff are not gone by noon tomorrow, I am going to personally _throw_ you through that gate."

Aulus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Colonel Sheppard... is that a _threat_?"

John admitted diplomacy wasn't his style, but this was about as close as he got. "It's either that or we don't talk again. You may not have _technically_ lied to us, but you put 10 of my people in danger and I _still_ don't know if my commanding officer will survive the night. If she _dies_, you can sure as hell know that you will _never_ be welcome to this city again."

To John's surprised Aulus smiled softly. "You are a much stronger man than I had given you credit for. I assumed with your advanced evolutionary state compared to the others you were naturally their leader. An Alpha Male as it were. I see now that you prefer instead to support your leader, to be the strength behind that holds the people together."

John didn't have anything to say to that. In a way it was the best description of him ever, in another it was a generalization he didn't appreciate.

Aulus nodded once, then got up. "I will do as you ask, Colonel. There will be no Olim on Atlantis by midday tomorrow. Further, I will instruct my medical advisor to work with your doctors. My people have much experience with…" The older man sighed in resignation, "_…_the types of injuries and exposure that combat with the Shade creates."

John's mother had always taught him to be polite. He could feel the sting of his words impacting now. "Thank you."

Aulus nodded, and within a moment he'd left the room and back to his staff who remained around the control room.

John sighed and bowed his head over Sam's desk, holding it in his palms as his elbows rested on it. He remained like that for a few moments alone, until he heard a light step enter. He didn't bother looking up. by the way she was closing the blinds it was obvious he'd been cornered. "Leese."

Alicia finished closing the blinds and shut the door. She stood in front of the desk and quietly spoke. "John." They remained like that for several moments before Alicia spoke up. "How long have you been awake?"

John shrugged. "Dunno… lost my watch." She wasn't the first, and he knew she wouldn't be the last. Ronon, Drake, even Dusty and Chuck had quietly offered John their support in one way or another. He didn't need it.

Alicia sighed hard and then muttered tersely. "Permission to speak freely?"

John chuckled a bit and then nodded as he groaned softly. "Always."

"You're exhausted, John. Go. Me, Larrin and Marks can handle the Olim. Go see her."

Alicia could see John wince. She'd touched a nerve she knew was better left alone, but John was pushing himself too hard and Alicia had seen soldiers crack under that stress. She never wanted to see John like that and was willing to cross a few lines she really shouldn't have to prevent it.

"We're all worried, John. She means a hell of a lot of us, too. But I know…" She stopped there, and realized she really didn't know _what_ she knew. " I just…know. Go. _Please._"

John sighed softly and took a few moments to himself. Finally after deciding that he'd done enough, and Atlantis was safe. He got up quietly and walked around to face Alicia.

Even if the blinds weren't shut he'd have still wrapped his arms around her. She returned the hug and held it as he whispered. _"Thank you."_

If the situation wasn't so dire, Alicia might have given John a little peck on the cheek. "Always."

* * *

John had been forcing his emotions to remain hidden, buried beneath years of training, and now months of repressing. He'd seen monsters he didn't know existed tear men apart, freeze them mid-stride and even more, he'd just witnessed the death of a planet.

It was nothing compared to what he saw before him now. "Carson… wha… what…?" John's breathing increased, his hands trembled.

The Scottish doctor breathed heavily and looked to Reyna beside him. "Reyna... I have to meet with the Olim medical officer… can you…?"

The Traveler doctor nodded and looked to John. "Colonel, I can explain."

John forced one foot in front of the other, he hadn't been in this room for months. He'd long ago hoped never to have to be here again. "Is… she alive?"

Turning her head to the stasis chamber where Sam half stood with a crutch hastily put under her right shoulder holding her up despite the broken femur in her right leg. "In a word, yes, but I'm not exaggerating when I say she's literally on the blade of a knife."

John didn't care who saw him, Daniel sat nearby, his eyes still red from tears and face dirty. John walked up to the stasis chamber and put his hand to it. "Why did you put her in here?"

Daniel was the one to respond this time, his voice softly breaking. "She was too far gone, John. She'd lost a lot of blood and the frostbite is really bad on her hands and feet. _She'll die if we take her out._"

Hidden from view, John winced hard, his fist curled into a white knuckled, fingernail penetrating into his palm strength. He'd fought too hard to lose her. John realized with a sad finality what Sam had meant almost a year ago when Daniel had been trapped in the void with Ronon after the midway disaster. "Reyna… can you give Daniel and me a minute?"

The Traveler doctor looked at Daniel, who didn't say a word, then replied. "Yes… yes of course." She packed up her gear from scanning Sam's body and before Reyna left, she put a hand on John's shoulder to whisper. _"I'm sorry, Colonel.. I wish there was more we could do… I'm glad you're alright though."_

John simply remained quiet and mused. "Go see what the Olim offered. That's something you can do." Reyna's compassion was the last thing he wanted to think about now. All he wanted was for Sam to say something… _anything. _John would have been happy with a _"I hate your guts John Sheppard"_

Curious by what he meant but understanding that he needed to be alone, Reyna simply walked away with her kit.

Daniel got up and stood behind John as he looked at the stasis chamber where Sam remained with her eyes partially open, only a narrow sliver at the bottom. John's jacket was still around her with the old Atlantis Expedition logo on it. "… She hated the cold… always complained when she had to come up to Antarctica." Daniel tried his best to keep his composure, but he himself knew that it was a losing battle. "What did Aulus have to say?"

John replied quickly, trying his best not to simply scream. "He's sorry about what happened. He'll talk to their council when they leave tomorrow morning. He also offered any medical aid his people can give."

Daniel stopped breathing for a moment and gasped. "Medical aid? Wait. You mean…?"

John shrugged. "I don't know what that means. You'll have to talk to Carson."

Unsure of what to do, Daniel rubbed his face and groaned. "Ohhh… okay… you're saying that you don't know whether the Olim can help her? What are we doing here then?"

John snorted softly, focusing on the immediate conversation. "I'm here to see Samantha. You can go talk to Aulus's medical aide if you want."

Shocked by John's words Daniel simply gulped and nodded. "Alright." The archeologist left John's side, but before he left the room he murmured. "Don't push too hard John. We need you more than ever."

John left his thoughts unsaid as he heard Daniel walk, or rather scurry away.


	16. Contact Part 3 Third Third

**A/N:** Originally this wasn't so long. You'll have to forgive me as my beta **TheIceMenace** has the _uncanny_ ability to inadvertently give me great ideas _(although one of the ones for this chapter was purely her originality)_.

* * *

John felt like he could just fall down in this hallway and sleep hard. Screw anyone who found him there, he could just tell them to piss off.

Who was he kidding? Sleep would bring the nightmares. The constant repression of the horror's he'd seen in his life flooded back during the night hours. He was still having the odd memory of the Asuran torture Rodney had gone through, but for the most part it was his own nightmares that plagued him

He'd worked through that, finally separating his own fears and desires from that of his best friend. It was only cruel fate that the universe had a penchant for ripping him from those he cared about. Every night they would call out to him from their graves and beckon him to join their ranks, reaching out to welcome him as one of them. John buried the dreams just like he buried everything else, always staying a step ahead of madness.

Finally reaching his quarters, John decided that maybe if he stunned himself he wouldn't dream and instead just get the rest needed for his body to continue.

So it came as a surprise when the doors opened, and the lights were on inside. He was surprised for a second, but then seeing Larrin sitting on his bed with her hands together as if in prayer assuaged his fears. "Larrin…"

She looked up and nodded. "Sheppard."

John stood there for a second, then moved into the room. He refrained from making a snarky or even suggestive comment and just took his shoes off.

Larrin watched him contemplatively from her position on the bed. She looked just as tired as he felt. "Heard Sam's not doing too good."

John sighed as he took his outer shirt off. He still didn't know exactly how Larrin had gotten in but it didn't matter. "No… she's in stasis. We're hoping the Olim might have something to help her."

Larrin sniffled once before speaking again. "Heard about Aulus, too. Bastard nearly got us all killed."

John walked into the bathroom and took his t-shirt off. "He said he was sorry. As much as I wanna rip his throat out, he's got a point."

Larrin turned her head and raised her voice to make sure John heard. "Like that makes a _difference_?"

Taking off his pants now, John tossed both items into the hamper nearby. "It would matter to her."

They both remained quiet a moment, John shutting the glass door to the bathroom, taking off the last of his clothes and turning the shower on. The conversation halted there, and he quietly scrubbed himself down. Layers of dirt, sweat, and caked-on shit from almost 32 hours of constant action fell to the floor and were disposed of by the Ancient filters below.

It was a quick shower, something he'd learned to do for the sake of his job. Once he'd finished he dried himself off with a towel, tossed it in the hamper and put on his pajama bottoms. He couldn't find a clean sleep shirt and decided to sleep without it. He needed to be frosty tomorrow to send off the Olim, just as Sam would expect him to do.

He was mildly surprised when he opened the bathroom door and Larrin was still there, still sitting on his bed. The lights were turned down and she seemed quite pensive. John walked over to her and sat down.

Larrin cracked her knuckles by squeezing her fist, then sighed. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

John shrugged. "I don't know. I hope so."

Seeing that Larrin was silently asking for comfort _(as if sitting in the dark in his bed wasn't overt enough)_ John scooted over and put his arm around her.

The Traveler woman leaned into him and hugged him back. John had never seen Larrin this distraught before and it was almost scary. His fears were confirmed when she whispered. _"You wanna have sex?" _

John took his time considering the question. He could think of a dozen different reasons why she'd ask it so suddenly. Fear of losing him, of losing Sam. Fear of dying. A strange sort of consolation. Maybe she was just…in the mood.

Whatever it was, John found he couldn't answer. His mind and body were of at least 3 differing opinions each so saying anything would just be inserting his foot into his mouth. They didn't move at all for a few moments then Larrin shifted over to straddle John

They held it for a few moments, and John breathed in the smell of her neck. It was so stress relieving, the feel of her skin touching his. John kept his mouth shut as her lips pressed against his.

He'd wondered when this would actually happen, if at all. In the dark pale light of the stars outside, John could barely make out Larrin's light toned skin as they kissed.

Her hands came up to his chest and started to rub the tension out, John gasped as he felt her strong fingers dart around his torso.

There was reluctance though, and only because the blood was rushing out of his head did he wrap his own arms around Larrin and begin to kiss back.

Larrin shifted over again and John scooted under her to give them a good position on the bed. He could feel her thigh muscles tighten around his waist as she pushed him down onto the bed.

John leaned back and sighed as he felt the exhaustion work to tear him down. Even seeing Larrin pull her shirt up and over her head exposing her utterly perfect body to him didn't succeed in doing more than waking up a part of him.

Larrin leaned down and pressed her body against John. Her chest was in his face and hearing him moan into her skin with his hot breath sent a shiver down her spine,

John breathed heavily for a moment, then shifted back against the wall so he was leaning with his back to it.

Larrin whimpered as John's mouth suckled, and she closed her eyes hard. Her hands slid up from his chest and wrapped around his head pressing it into her chest.

She held it like that for almost a minute, and Larrin pushed no further as she bowed her head to nuzzle the top of John's.

That's when she noticed his hands had stopped moving and his throat vibrating. He'd fallen asleep in such an intimate postion.

A part of Larrin wanted to scream. How the HELL could he have fallen asleep in this position? But another part knew the man was exhausted. He'd been up for more than a day and most of that had been spent running around and fighting.

She repressed the sob that tried to push its way out of her throat and after a moment she released her hold on John's head and silently pushed away.

Rubbing her face, Larrin shifted off of John and sat down on the edge of the bed again. She felt around for her shirt and wondered how she'd gotten to this point.

Just as she was about to get up she felt John's hands stop her. His hands slipped in around her waist and pulled her back into his chest.

She moaned softly as his hands came up to caress her and his lips pressed softly on the sensitive part of her neck. The momentary pause had allowed her to regain her senses. She shook her head and tried to push away, but John held onto her and with a little more force stroked her body. Now fighting him half-heartedly, Larrin found herself turned around and facing him again.

John was exhausted, the bloodshot eyes, the heavy lumps of his cheeks, even the way he was breathing showed he was struggling to stay awake.

Larrin sniffled once before whispering. _"I'm sorry."_

John shook his head and chuckled a bit. "I… " he stopped, obviously stopping himself from saying whatever was on his mind.

Pushing against his chest again, Larrin gently tried to pry herself from his grasp, but he was a lot stronger than her and she was stuck. "John, I'm sorry I… " She bit her lip, looked away, and then just silently confessed. "…I shouldn't take advantage of you. Not now, not when…"

John shook his head again and pulled her closer. She relished every second of being pulled up to his body even as she continued to squirm.

"….she's in a goddamn tube and all I can think about… I don't want this."

John remained silent, He knew she wasn't talking about the position they were in... but rather the position they'd have to fill without Sam around.

Larrin winced and lowered her voice. "I know you don't want it either…" Larrin's eyes had watered now, and John felt his skin become slick with her tears. "I should go."

Feeling her push off with strength now, John flexed his arms and held her in place. She resisted for a moment, but then stopped as she settle into his arms. "Stay."

Larrin groaned, and it wasn't in pleasure. "No no no…I-I can't ask you to do that."

John shook his head again and pulled her body tighter into his. Larrin gasped as how his hand danced along her naked spine. "Just until you're okay." Larrin hesitated. "Just until we're _both _okay."

It was too much to ask for, and Larrin hated that John felt enough for her to do this. "Remember you asked me if I regretted…?" she let the question hang. It was a difficult answer.

John pulled her along on the bed and wrapped his blanket around them both. "Vaguely."

Larrin looked at John intensely, and after a second she sighed as she lay her head on his chest. "I don't know if I was lying or not anymore."

John didn't reply. Instead he laid his head back after shutting the lights off and closed his eyes. This place had truly become his home and family and the pain of one truly did mean the pain of them all.

Come morning, Larrin was gone from his presence and John once again felt loneliness take up residence. It was like a weed, growing and blossoming despite his best efforts to eradicate it, wrapping its roots around his soul and squeezing until nothing was left but the pain.

It was still early. Larrin couldn't have been gone long and it was still several hours before John had to take the watch of the control room from Alicia who'd volunteered the night shift. With Marks on Atlantis as well, it wasn't a difficult task for her.

John quickly got dressed, splashed some water on his face to wake up a bit, and left his quarters. The hallways were mostly empty, few people were up at this hour of the night. John found that he couldn't understand what they might be feeling... most were Travelers and listened to Larrin, what did they think of the earth born?

John found himself intrinsically drawn back to the stasis area. All he really wanted to do was to go and see her. Get a few minutes alone with just her and his thoughts.

So it surprised him when he found Larrin sitting on the floor in front of the stasis pod. She was sitting comfortably and obviously asleep. Larrin must have come here after leaving his quarters.

The room echoed, and John's footsteps were enough to wake her. Larrin moaned softly as she rubbed her eyes, then upon seeing John, the moan became a soft groan. "Sheppard..."

John again sat down next to Larrin. He looked up at the stasis chamber and sighed. "Didn't expect to find you here."

Larrin rubbed the tiredness out of her face and sighed. "When a Traveler is hurt really bad. We observe an ancient custom. The person's family and closest friends watch over the person... and they also tell them a secret about themselves."

John remained silent, watching as Larrin had her small breakdown.

"I hate that custom... it comes from the Ancestors but i hate it, i hate it, _I hate it."_ Larrin took a deep breath, pausing to consider her words. "I never got close to anyone. I never wanted to see anyone i cared about be so near death that i could safely tell them a secret."

John had heard of a few cultures having rituals like that. But he never knew the Travelers did so as well. "It's a lonely life."

Larrin nodded, and continued her little speech. "One of the reasons we tell our secrets to dying men and women is so that they might have a reason to come back. Keep fighting." She gulped, and now she looked up at the stasis pod. "Sam... i've never loved a single person in my life. I'm too scared of losing someone i care about to-to even try." Larrin bowed her head and brought her knees up to her face. She wasn't crying. there wasn't even the look of sorrow on her face. Simple a reluctant admission that John happened to be around for.

John put an arm around Larrin and pulled her into a comforting hug. This wasn't like before though, this was simply consolation of a wounded soul.

Even more, John decided to stick to tradition. "Sam, I... loved Elizabeth Weir... and i'll never forgive myself for not going back."

Silence dominated after that. Larrin had no idea who Elizabeth Weir was, but she still turned to John with a look of sympathy. She understood clearly what John was talking about.

* * *

The Olim were gone, and Carson had a treasure trove of information he was pouring over. He was confident that he'd find a way to keep Sam alive and fully intact, so much so that Reyna had to set up a little cot for him to sleep in so he never left the infirmary.

Daniel had witnessed it all, and he'd even been a little surprised when Reyna took it upon herself to care for Carson as he pushed himself harder and harder. It had gotten so bad that Daniel had flown over to the mainland in a Jumper and brought Teyla to help; the Athosian woman gladly taking time out of rebuilding the tattered remains of her civilization. She was currently helping Carson eat at least something so he wouldn't pass out from hunger pangs.

Carson had explained it all. Sam's hands and feet were severely frostbitten. The rest of her body was less so but still very damaged. Carson was adamant that if Sam were any weaker of spirit she would have died on that planet.

The Stasis Chamber was the only alternative. Carson just didn't have any options when she was brought in and would have had to amputate to prevent gangrene or severe infection. He'd been unwilling to do so and, at Reyna's suggestion, had hastily shoved her into the same stasis tube he'd been put into so many months ago.

If they had only Earth based technology, Carson knew that Sam would have likely not survived, but with the remnants of the expedition's research, the Ancient database, the Wraith database recovered from Michael's lab, the Traveler database, and now knowledge and key information given to him by the Olim medical staff, Carson was _adamant_ that Sam would recover fully or he'd die trying.

Daniel had noticed Carson with a new fire in him. Up until now he'd only been dealing with the odd injury or the various sicknesses that passed through the population. Every once in awhile he'd go offworld to a refugee planet to help, and with Daniel's assistance, they'd formed trusting bonds with many of the refugees.

Carson had even been able to tell that Daniel and Teyla were becoming more than friends, and had called him out on in a few weeks previous. Daniel was still on the fence whether to actually move ahead because Teyla was so busy with the remainder of her people… almost 30 total now.

Daniel had wandered and spoken to everyone, and the consensus was clear. They _all_ wanted Sam back. And not only that, but the sudden heavy action and new excitement seemed to have stirred everyone back to life.

When he'd gone to the Gym, Daniel was astonished to see Ronon screaming like a drill sergeant and training the Traveler security officers along with the remaining marines to a level he'd only seen in Ronon back in Pegasus. No longer was he play fighting with Dusty in lieu of training, Ronon was physically pushing her limits and Dusty met it with fervor and almost rage. Daniel quickly escaped before Ronon could force him to join in as well.

Daniel still felt sorrow every time he looked at Sam inside that tube. He couldn't help but feel the same way he did when Jack inserted himself into a stasis tube after finding the Antarctic Outpost. Just the sad realization that the person inside was dying and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it at the time.

But he pressed forward and brokered a peace of sorts with the Olim while the others took care of home matters. They'd be talking again eventually, but not soon.

In fact, everyone seemed to be somewhat refocused after the troublesome first contact with both the Olim and Shade. Everyone that is except… "John."

The Lieutenant Colonel turned his head from his seated position in front of the stasis chamber. It was still pretty early in the morning and Daniel had expected to find John in the control room. "Daniel…"

The Archeologist still wasn't used to seeing Sam like that. He averted his gaze and muttered to John. "How uh... long have you been here?"

John shrugged, a very common occurrence over the last 2 days since contact. "Dunno… lost my watch."

Daniel resisted groaning at hearing those words yet again and sat down next to John on the floor. "You know.. she'd hate that you're wasting your time here. You could be negotiating with the Olim, you could be training more Travelers, you could be…"

Ignoring him completely, John simply started a new conversation. "You remember when you and Ronon were trapped between Pegasus and Milky Way?"

Silencing for a moment, Daniel replied quietly. ". Kinda hard to forget."

John kept staring at the tube, his feet flat on the floor and knees up in a relaxed position. "'Bout a week after we lost contact with Midway I found Sam passed out on her desk."

Daniel remained silent, deciding to just listen to this story.

"She'd been up for almost two days. Kept trying to figure out ways to get to you guys sooner, fight off a potential Wraith siege, even move the city to somewhere the Wraith wouldn't find us. None of it was working."

"I came to give her…something. I forget. But when I found her I woke her up and-_and she did the cutest little thing where she cursed, slapped me away and muttered 'bacon' or something_. Then she just raised her head, looked around and dropped back down like a groundhog that saw its shadow."

Daniel couldn't help it and snorted softly. "She's done that to me before too. She won't admit it but she loves bacon."

John smiled and snickered. "Oh, man. It gets _better_. I pull her up off the desk and she's all groggy… she's bitching at me and I can't help but laugh. She's even got a paperclip stuck to her cheek. It was _priceless_."

A gulp emitted from Daniel's throat, and he mused softly. "On SG1… she hated whenever someone had to wake her. I used to take something from my pack, an MRE or something and toss it at her to wake her up. Get a head start you know?"

Laughing at the odd yet personal story, John continued. "Ha! That is _gold_! Anyways, it gets to the point where I have to walk her to her quarters to make sure she'll get some sleep. I even threaten to stun her unless she gets eight straight hours."

"Before I can leave though, she asks me to wait. She wants to talk but she just can't bring herself to do it, So...so she asks me if I have any beer."

Daniel furrowed his brow. "She doesn't drink often. Caused some problems during those first few years in the SGC offworld."

"I can imagine." John liked this conversation, it was simple, it was informative, and even more, Daniel seemed perfectly comfortable as did he. The strange thing was he didn't feel weak for saying the things he was saying… _or planned to say._ "So I bust out the Molson, we head to a little pier down on the west side and start drinking."

"She got four beers in her before we started arguing. She didn't want to tell me anything, just wanted to sit there and drink. I pushed, she pushed back and we nearly come to blows. Finally she tells me, not everything, not by long shot, but enough that I know she's hurtin'."

"Eventually I get to the bottom of it… she was worried about you Daniel." John turned to the Archeologist and kept his face impassive. "…She drank six beers in 10 minutes to loosen up enough to tell me that she was ashamed to be more worried about you than she was about everything else that was happening at the time."

Daniel remained quiet for a few moments, he was obviously deep in thought before he answered. "I'm not surprised. We never talk about it but… she's like the sister I never had; I'd be feeling the same way. I'm sure she feels I'm a kind of brother to her as well."

John smiled softly and mused. "Her exact words were… _'I can't lose him.''_"

Not exactly what he'd been expecting, Daniel smacked his lips as he turned to look at the stasis tube again.

Turning back to the stasis tube, John lowered his voice and the barest edge of it cracked. _"I can't lose her, Daniel._ I _finally_ understand what you guys feel for each other and…and _I just… can't… lose her."_

Daniel found it hard to believe that the Boy-in-Man's body, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, had just said that. Even more, John didn't seem ashamed, he didn't seem…vulnerable. He didn't even look embarrassed. All there was was a glint of moisture in John's eyes; it could have been from the exhaustion for all Daniel knew. So Daniel just remained quiet as he sat with John keeping Sam company.

* * *

"Carson has something. He's taking a quick nap so he's fresh for when we implement it, but we think it'll work."

John looked to the side where Daniel sat with Teyla beside him. The Athosian woman hadn't been on Atlantis in weeks, but after hearing about the near catastrophe of Magna Secundus, she insisted on being here to support her friends. "If I understand correctly, Colonel Carter's body is already nearing death. What sort of medicine have the Olim provided?"

Reyna smiled and held her tablet for the others to see. "It's a combination therapy really. We've combined just about every technology we have in order to come up with an effective treatment." She pointed to one of the many files selected on the screen. "Here we have the medicine the Olim provided. It's a powerful fast acting anabolic steroid with an added thermogenic ingredient. Basically, it will repair her damaged muscular tissues from the freezing process as well as gently thawing the tissue without causing damage. It's quite ingenious really. With our own techniques, her skin should be just fine as well."

John could feel a but coming up. "But?"

Reyna nodded. "…But… it's not just the frostbite that's threatening her. Her broken femur nicked some of the smaller veins in her leg; she's lost a lot of blood and the internal bleeding is sure to have caused damage.

Because of this, we're also going to inject her with a synthesized version of the Wraith Enzyme that's used during feeding."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. _"What?!"_

Teyla seemed shocked as well, but seemed to understand. "You wish to strengthen her body for the repair process."

John remained quiet as Reyna nodded. "Exactly. That along with something Carson calls Tretonin to fight off immediate infection, as well as an immediate blood transfusion should be enough. She'll still have a few weeks of recovery and physical therapy. But if it all goes well, then as soon as she's stable, we'll repair her femur and seal off the damaged blood vessels in her leg with a quick surgery and she can recover in peace…awake."

A wave of relief washed over everyone, and John simply bowed his head and uttered a silent prayer of thanks. He'd never really been a religious man, but perhaps with this news he'd become one.

* * *

Sam felt the odd sensation of slowly regaining consciousness, yet at the same time she'd already been aware she wasn't awake. It was very strange. She couldn't tell if she was still in the nightmare of stasis or actually waking up.

Her leg still ached terribly, but it was a dull pain now. Softened by the sweet tender kiss of morphine _(God she loved it but would never tell a soul)_. Sam's eyes slowly drifted apart and she could make out a hazy figure to the right of her, a figure that made her feel very safe.

He was working on a tablet. Sam watched intently for a few seconds as she worked up her voice. It was a Sudoku puzzle and he had a few numbers already. John seemed to be stuck though as he went to a single square and repeatedly pulled away as if confused.

Sam had done the same gesture many times before waiting for someone to wake up. She'd often played with John before and knew he could do this puzzle.

That meant he was distracted, and she knew why. "Two."

John instantly sat up. Sam's barely opened eyes and whispered words were the best thing he'd heard all week. "Sam?"

Sam's eyes closed again as she smiled, there were a few chairs around, one of which had Daniel's leather jacket on it. She knew that there had likely been a vigil for her, and as much as she wished that they'd spent their time on something productive, Sam couldn't think of anyone she'd rather wake up to in the infirmary. "It's two, John."

Hearing his name on her lips be the first thing she said broke him instantly. John bowed his head and chuckled softly. He wrote down the number in the box as he got up and stood above Sam. "Yeah… yeah it is." He saw that Sam was still quite unresponsive and called out. "Carson!_ Carson!_"

A few moments passed, and the Scottish doctor appeared with a half worried look on his face. "Colonel! Good lord man, you'll wake the dead!" As he looked at Sam fidgeting and groaning softly, he realized why John had called. "Oh, thank God! I'll be back in a moment."

John nodded and took a few deep breaths. He gently took Sam's hand in his and squeezed. "You're gonna be okay, Sam. You're going to be just fine. Just hang in there, you hear?"

Sam groaned softly and winced. She still seemed mildly delirious. "John?"

"Yeah?"

She finally opened her eyes to a point where it was clear she was looking at him. John looked back. All she did was smile.

* * *

"Sam, I'm telling you this as your friend. If you _ever_ do this again, I'm going to search this entire base for more of those handcuffs Vala used on me and I'm _never_ letting you go."

Sam snorted in mirth. The threat was serious, but still funny. "Thank you, Daniel. I might have to agree with you." She pulled the covers of the blanket up more with her left hand, still feeling very cold despite the warm IV in her arm (_She didn't know whether to be relieved or disturbed that her body was in an odd sensation of warm freezing.)_

To the side, Larrin furrowed her brow as Carson injected something into Sam's IV. "Handcuffs?" She then gave Daniel a lascivious look. "… _Kinky_. I like."

Daniel shuddered ever so slightly and his arms came up slightly in defense. "That's… _lovely_ Larrin. _Exactly_ what I wanted to think about right now."

The group laughed at the teasing, and Sam couldn't help but appreciate that she had these friends to look after her. John was still by her side with one hand covering hers, softly and stealthily rubbing the back of hers with his thumb. Sam said. "Larrin I'm not so sure you want Daniel. He's had experience with uhh.. shall we say woman who like handcuffs?"

Larrin raised her eyebrows in surprise, snickered at the obvious tease, then looked to Daniel again. "_Really? _Hmmm you and me need to talk more Danny."

Carson standing by resisted chuckling at Daniel's blushing face. He finished depressing the plunger on the needle and said. "There we go… a very mild sedative so you don't get any ideas."

Sam gave him an incredulous look. "Carson! I have a broken leg, I'm still _freezing_ and you think I _want_ to escape?" All bunched up in 2 blankets that thankfully hid the recently treated injury to her leg, Sam couldn't help but feel exposed. The only consolation was that these really were her friends.

John shrugged as he deadpanned looking at Daniel. "Well, he probably took a look at your files. You know how doctors are."

Smacking John's hand away, Sam gave him a cute wounded look. John simply laughed it off and sighed. "Gee. Thanks." Seeing he wasn't offended at all, Sam turned to pressing matters. "So… I'm guessing I've been out for a few days at least. Are the Olim leaders still on the base?"

Daniel shook his head and coughed. "Uh, no. They were very curious about the base but since they had a few soldiers with them, we worked out that they should return to their people first and we'll give them a guided tour once you've recovered seeing as you _are_ our.." Daniel made air quotes. "…_Leader."_

Larrin rolled her eyes and looked at John. "It was _his_ idea. I had to ask why he started laughing when I said 'take me to your leader'."

Sam snickered, felt a jab of pain in her right thigh and gasped. She played it off and asked. "So, what's the situation right now?"

Carson instantly took note and looked to the group. "Alright, alright. The situation is _you_ need rest." He looked to the group. "She'll be just fine but for now I really think sleep will do a lot of good."

Grudgingly getting up, Daniel gave Sam e final smile before realizing he had to outrun Larrin. "Get better. We'll be here for you."

Larrin nodded and rubbed her hands. "I had some of my people do some research and we can make Jell-O now. I'll bring you some later." Larrin smiled at Sam, and gave John a slightly more reluctant look. John gave her the same reluctant look back and then quickly broke eye contact.

Sam didn't notice and instead laughed. She resisted gasping from the pain in her leg, and tried not to think of all the medical knowledge of broken femurs that flooded her mind. Before John could move away though she took a hold on his hand and held on. "Wait… Carson?"

Both John and the doctor turned, Carson saw the motion, put two and two together and sighed. "… Alright, ye can have a few minutes, but I'm _serious_. The Olim may have provided their medical knowledge and you'll be okay in a few weeks, but you're still going to have to take it _very easy_ if you want to regain full motion and strength."

Sam was a soldier at heart, and she knew that Carson wasn't kidding. "I promise Carson…" She tried to look as sincere as possible which wasn't hard at the moment, and Carson nodded. He led Daniel and Larrin out, both of which looked back and gave sympathetic smiles.

Sam knew that she shouldn't have asked John to stay so soon. But since regaining consciousness she'd had only one question on her mind and she had to ask it. She turned slightly and gulped as John took a seat next to her, his hand still gently rubbing hers. "John."

"Sam." The man could hide his emotions so well… but Sam knew how to tell. The way the skin around his eyes tightened, the tension around his mouth. Sam could see that John had finally regained his control and was as much himself as he could hope to be.

It still bothered her just a little that she could read so much in his face from so little. "…I uhh, I wanted to ask you something."

John didn't reply, he only continued stroking Sam's hand and nodded.

"Before I do… I just want to be clear." Sam lowered her voice which was already hoarse. John had to lean in to hear her whispers. "_I know you don't like to talk about this… neither do I… but if we don't clear this up right now…"_

Again, John didn't say a word, he simply remained quiet, bowed his head and nodded gently. His hand still holding hers.

"_I just want to say I'm sorry… I'm… I'm sorry I…"_

Now John shook his head and sighed. His voice was just as soft. "Don't_… don't be sorry. Don't __ever__ be sorry."_

Sam drew a sharp breath in, both because she couldn't believe John was willing to forgive her, and because the pain in her leg was excruciating. She bit her lower lip for a moment, decided to wait until John was gone to scream for painkillers and took a deep calming breath. "John, this isn't over. We always say we're going to talk but it never sticks and that can't happen this time." She turned to John and stared at him pointedly. "You promised me once we'd talk and we did. Promise me that we'll do that again…"

John waited a few moments, and quietly nodded. "I promise." Both his hands held her right hand now, gently rubbing and stroking. She felt so cold, her core body temperature still not back to normal.

It had taken Sam a long time to build up the courage to ask this question, and as loath as she was to admit it, she probably never would have if Rodney hadn't decided to show up… another secret she'd have to take to the grave. "John, before you go, I need to ask you one question and I need you to be honest."

The man holding her hand remained impassive, his emotions buried and invisible to anyone who didn't know him, but Sam could see in his eyes that he was scared as he nodded.

Sam took a few deep relaxing breathes. She didn't recall a time she'd ever asked this question before, but this time it meant more things than she could have ever thought the words could mean. She tightened her grip around his hand and whispered even softer. "_Do you love me?" _She could feel the tension in the air rise, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew Rodney was watching.

A flicker passed through John's eyes, his throat constricting barely a centimeter then returning to normal. For a man like John, it was the closest to an emotional outbreak she'd seen… at least when it was just him.

Sam had been trying to bury that knowledge herself, the fact that she knew _exactly_ what John was feeling. Jolinar had become as much a part of her as Rodney had become of John, and like it or not, it was something she had to deal with.

She'd tell him later… Sam would tell him anything he wanted to know. She just needed an answer right now.

John licked his suddenly dry lips and took a deep breath as he looked away. Sam's question was in actuality much more complicated than a simple emotion. Those words asked if it was him.. John Sheppard who loved her… she asked if John Sheppard had gone to rescue her over an emotional decision…

A dozen questions wrapped in one… as well as the actual question… Did he love her?

John took his time replying, calming his heart down, stroking her hand gently as he looked her right in the eyes and finally whispered. "_No."_

Sam closed her eyes and silently cursed herself for feeling relief. His single word had assuaged the soldier, the professional in her. But the woman in her now asked more, much more. That one word told her that John saved her because he cared, not because he was emotional. John's answer told her that he wasn't going to ask her to let him kiss her again… at least not for the wrong reasons.

But that would wait, as long as she added her side as well. "_…I don't love you either." _Sam tightened the grip she had on his hand and tried to keep calm. "_But…but I think I can."_

It was the most she'd be able to admit for now; maybe the most she'd ever be able to admit. The cold hard truth was she did think she could love John, and that put him miles ahead of everyone else she'd ever gotten close to. It didn't mean she was going to fall into the same trap she had with Pete, or even the deeper trap she'd fallen into with John before. This time she would do it _right_, this time she would take her time and see if there honestly was a potential for something here more than just… _relief._

John again licked his lips. This conversation was obviously distressing him but he kept his composure. John wanted to tell Sam a lot more than just one word, but he'd spent such a long time repressing it that he just didn't know if he could do it. Sam knew more about him than anyone, but even so he still felt it was wrong to burden her with it. He didn't deserve her apology, and he certainly didn't deserve her as a friend. But that's what he'd be happy with and that's what he wanted for now.

To the side, Carson popped his head in and pointedly looked at John. He smiled back, and gave Sam a soft rub of her shoulder as he began to walk away.

Before he left the privacy of the curtained room, he stopped and turned to look at her. His words were barely loud enough for her to hear, but that's what he wanted. "_Me too."_

Weeks would pass before Sam could be in a position where she could finally _talk_ with John. Have that mature adult discussion that Daniel had teased her about months ago. Now wasn't that time though, and when that time came Sam still didn't know what she'd really say. It was a complicated matter, but apparently, Sam would have a few weeks to think about how she'd proceed from here… if she even proceeded at all.

With their mutual admissions still sinking in, Sam relaxed and hit the call button. The sweet tender embrace of painkillers would give her all the time in the world to examine exactly what she wanted. Sam was finally sure that she happy knowing that even though she wasn't on Earth, this had truly become her home. Daniel was here, Science was here, and according to Larrin, even Jell-O was here,

And even more, she had time to bask in the joy that John would _always_ be her friend… that he'd _always _be there for her, no matter what became of them.

* * *

**End of Episode 11 Mid Season Break**

**A/N:** _So I'm taking a break from this as I have RL stuff to do (namely holidays :) ) That being said, just because I won't be posting for a few weeks(episodes that is) doesn't mean I'm not working on this. The second half of the season goes much more into what we're used to from SG1 with original(ish) storylines for SG. Expect more on the Shade, More on the Olim, as well as some other… interesting_ developments.

_I have four seasons worth of arc planned. There is A LOT left to happen in this galaxy. Stay tuned for more action, more intrigue, more everything!_

_However, If you're looking for reading material. Here are some recommendations_

_**Some Corner of a Foreign Field **__By** Neela – Apoca!Fic,**_ Atlantis watches in rapt horror as the wormhole to Earth shuts down, an invasion imminent on both sides. The Wraith are after Atlantis with their Superhive, Earth is unreachable and likely destroyed. Only 1000 people are left in Atlantis after evacuation. Survival is not guaranteed, and pain is the only common denominator. Very good characterizations, good story, overall a good read :D

_Neela's got some GREAT ideas and I totally recommend her story :D_

_**Chuck's Canadian Crime Connection **__By **TheIceMenace – Adventure/Humor, **_Chuck's got a twisted dark past… for a Canadian that is. Watch as he redeems himself alongside Amelia Banks and Dusty Mehra in a confusing yet oh-so-comical battle for his soul… Before the day is over, Someone's going to get "Chucked"

_Very funny story, and has a good sitcom feel to it. It reminds me somewhat of Due South except more Stargateish :D_

_**Stargate: Aurora **__By **TheLegate – SciFi/Adventure –**_ Follow the adventures of the crew of the Lantean Warship Aurora in the last 2 years of the Wraith-Lantean War. The struggle is titanic, the people involved only too human. Watch history unfold whether you like it or not. (There is likely going to be 2-3 crossover episodes with Dark Frontier. Stay tuned for more)

_TheLegate has a way with atmospheric description that's quite beautiful. I highly recommend his fic to anyone curious about the Lanteans or Ancients._

_**Occupational Hazard **__By **LoneRanger-1 – Gen Team Fic **_Hahaha, okay yes, self promotion. this is an easy story to write and what i'm going to be posting during my DF break.

SG1 comes under fire from a sniper and one of them is wounded, The SGC investigates, but finds out that their investigation leads right back to Earth. Watch as the mystery and intrigue unfold, and an enemy they never expected comes to light. High adventure/intrigue, humor, and lots of team dynamics.


	17. Chuck's Notes on Olim Origins and Tech!

_The following information has been collated and organized by Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Campbell, new head of Atlantis Human Resources, based on recorded information recovered from the Jumper on Magna Secundus, Shared Olim Intelligence, as well as first hand accounts from various expedition members. Make sure to reply to this forwarded collated e-mail with a confirmation of receipt.  
_

**From: Lieutenant Charles **_**"Chuck" **_**Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel**

**Re: The Olim (Origins)**

**The Olim: **Based on history records Aulus Centaurus has provided, The Olim are descended from the original Alterans who seeded a single planet in this galaxy with human life. How they did so is still unknown, but what is known is that for some reason, the Alterans who remained began to interbreed with the humans.

The result of this interbreeding is the Olim, a race of first generation humanoids with mental capabilities almost equaling that of the Lanteans. Examination by Doctor Carson Beckett and Reyna Arius has revealed both the ATA gene naturally present in all examined subjects, but also a higher percentage of active neural activity.

The Olim have provided us a basic database that they use for reference, and it explains a little more about their origins. Daniel Jackson has added his Cole's notes on the Database below

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**To: Chuck (Charles)**

**From: D. Jackson**

**Re: The Olim (Origins)**

"Coles Notes"? I think you mean "Cliff Notes" Chuck.

Given the limited information retrieved from the Ancient Outpost on the mainland of the moon _"Saudade"_, we can now accurately say that the Ancients were here in this galaxy much sooner than originally thought.

Exact dates are still unknown, but there are some vague references to a sickness and a ship known as "Destiny" being used as a bridge from the Avalon Galaxy _(The Milky Way)_ to Litichoro _(Hoag's Object. Loosely translated to "City of the Gods")_ This leads me to believe that the Ancients who arrived to Hoag's Object were refugees fleeing the plague that drove the Lanteans to Pegasus.

Their name for themselves comes from a dialect of Ancient that is very similar to Ancient Greek, which suggests a common link in our ancestry. Through further examination of the database, we've discovered that not all the Ancients who came to this galaxy remained. Records show that some they returned to Avalon _(The Milky Way) _through some unknown means. _(Our own experience with the Wormhole Drive shows that this technology was designed eons after the Ancients first arrived here.) _This brings up the possibility of finding technology in this galaxy that could either A: Provide us a way to get back to the Milky Way, or B: A power source strong enough to allow us to dial the Milky Way from here A few chats with Sam and Radek have told me that we'd need a dozen ZPMs just for form a connection, let alone hold it open for any large amount of time. We would also be unable to bring Atlantis itself with us.

There is very little on their current history in the database Aulus Centaurus provided us, but with potential trade in the future, we may be able to offer a cultural exchange.

* * *

**From: Lieutenant Chuck Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel**

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

No Doctor Jackson i mean Coles Notes. :)

As you all know, our first official contact with the Olim took place earlier last week. They invited the command staff along with a small escort to their colony named "Magna Secundus" (Translation is pending from Daniel Jackson)

During negotiations, their colony's governor, Aulus Centaurus, agreed to further consider trade potential as well as introducing us to the main Olim Council (of which he is apparently a middle ranking member). Despite their relative inhostility, first hand reports put them in a slightly less than personable manner.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: D. Jackson**

**To: Chuck (Charles) **

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

You lost me. I'll assume it's a Canadian thing.

While our first official contact with the Olim yielded little real success, we have bridged the gap between our two peoples and can only go upwards and onwards from here.

Admittedly, they are a capricious people and our dealings with each individual has been varied from openly hostile to cautiously optimistic. This leads me to believe that their society is based on classes which given our few diplomatic talks with them, would most likely have to do with evolutionary state. _(See Carson or Reyna for more details, I'm too busy with this database to go over the whole "ascension" bit right now. And Stop flooding my inbox Chuck! I'm working as fast as i can.)_

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Alicia**

**To: Chuckles**

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

Don't tempt me Chuck. My hand still hurts.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Larrin**

**To: Chucky **

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

They're assholes. Vega should get another promotion for decking that guys ass. Don't ask stupid questions Chucky.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Sheppard**

**To: Chucknician **

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

I don't think any reply I could make at this time would benefit the overall discussion. In fact, I don't think I'll ever be able to positively contribute to this discussion so you can take me off this "The Olim" email list you have. I'm sure I'll hear about it anyway.

Actually, wait. I do have one thing to say. Don't take anything they say at face value. There, happy now?

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Colonel Samantha Carter (Transcribed by Lt. Col. John Sheppard and Dr. Daniel Jackson)**

**To: Chuck**

**Re: The Olim (Official Contact)**

To begin, I'd like to thank Chuck for taking the time to compile all this information, We're all confident his new position as Director of Human Resources_ (Note from Sheppard: That means we get to call him Catbert)_ will be a big success. On a personal note, i'd like to thank Lt. Col. Sheppard and Dr, Jackson for assisting me in transcribing this message as I am currently unable to use my tablet properly. _(Note from Sheppard: Carson just dropped by with a fresh batch of Morphine. No I'm not going to tell you what she's doing because it's too funny)_ I hope that this information proves useful in our furthered contact with these potential trade partners. _(Note from Sheppard: Let's hope they have the three seashells)_

That being said, I am mildly disappointed with the above responses. _(Note from Sheppard: She might be, but she's still laughing her ass off.) _To contribute to the discussion and overall view of the Olim, I would like to point out that before we arrived in this galaxy, the Olim were quite convinced they were the only humans left in the universe. _(Note from Sheppard: Talk about ego, huh?)_ After speaking with Dr. Jackson, we've come to the conclusion that they are possibly facing internal issues of a political nature given how serious the differences in response there were to our diplomatic team. _(Note from Sheppard: Leese, if you're reading this, I owe you a beer. Just gotta brew it.)_

On a technological standpoint, the Olim are approximately 300 years ahead of Earth Level technology. Compared to Traveler, Asgard, or Ancient technology, their weapons and spacecraft are vastly outclassed. These are estimates from our visit to Magna Secundus. _(Note from Sheppard: Basically, we can kick their asses if it comes down to it.)_

On that note, from my own estimation given what I saw of their galactic map _(Note from Sheppard: It was actually pretty cool, holograms and everything) _the Olim only control a very small part of the ring of the galaxy._(Note from Sheppard: And the Galaxy is thankful)_ They are sufficiently far away that any attempt to get closer to Atlantis would be detected by our long range sensors.

*Note from Daniel Jackson: What's with all the crazy notes John?*

*Note from Samantha Carter: I'm going to leave the notes in simply because you stated more of your opinion here than you did in your own e-mail, but you _will_ be reprimanded for this, John. And no it's not funny. _(Well, okay maybe a little :) )*_

This does not mean they are not a potential threat as well, as the amount of infrastructure and technology type would give them a very mobile base of operations. I would estimate a fleet of capital ships that could rival the Traveler fleet in size as well as unknown numbers of smaller ships such as those on Magna Secundus.

Their first impression of us depended on whether or not we carried the ATA gene as well as our "evolutionary" state. We can only deduce that given their Alterran ancestry, they have inherited some minor form of empathy or some small degree of telepathy (See Reyna for more details).

Chuck, could you contact Radek and have him send you the information he and Reyna were able to collect from that armor? I'd like everyone to be fully briefed on what we've learned from it.

* * *

**From: Lieutenant Chuck Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel **

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

Olim Technology is still largely unknown, but based on scans from the Jumper to Magna Secundus, visual anecdotes as well as first hand encounters. It is a safe assumption that Olim Technology is quite formidable.

Several aspects of their technology seem to incorporate the ATA gene, but as we saw with the Armor, it takes much more than the gene itself to operate it.

Dr Arius and Dr Esposito have gone over our scans in detail and have created a report for us all.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Reyna and Rafaela  
**

**To: Chucky **

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

To be succinct, the Olim have quite literally mastered the field of electro-magnetism. Most of their technology is derived at some point from the properties of magnetic fields, and nothing says this more powerfully than their weapons and propulsion technology.

**Gauss Technology: **Utilizing a multistage electromagnetic coil, along with what we assume is a superconductive battery pack. The Olim have designed coilguns from man portable rifles, to large cannons capable of reaching orbit. how these weapons are powered is still unknown, but after study of the Alcaeus Armor Module, we can safely assume a molecularized form of Naquadah is used as a power source.

Much stronger than any ground based weapons technology we have, first hand accounts put these weapons as slow reloading, yet very powerful. Some has been reported as needing the ATA gene in order to work properly.

**Magnetic Propulsion:** While somewhat inferior to our own Ion Engines, this gives them a much better degree of control over their actual movements. Inter-Atmosphere they would be able to out maneuver any of our craft, yet in space, the lack of a magnetic "pole" so to speak requires them to double their engine output to achieve any useful speed. How they generate a Hyperspace Portal is still unknown, but it's a safe assumption that our technologies are similar.

**ATA Gene Technology:** This is a real puzzle for us. The Travelers have always known about the Ancestral Gene needed to operate their technology, and have created a few workarounds for it. What is very curious is how similar this technology is to the Olim.

Studying the Alcaeus armor yielded a few important points. Most prominant is that the Lanteans had their gene encoded technology as a safeguard against the Wraith, the Olim have no such enemy as far as we know. Why would they develop mental link technology that requires the gene? Moreover, it does seem as if the mental link technology is a little more advanced that the rest of their technology (when you consider that Gauss Technology isn't all that advanced compared to some of our own)

* * *

**From: Alicia  
**

**To: Chuckles **

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

Those Gauss rifles are awesome, but they take forever to reload. Seeing the Olim use them it almost felt like a civil war re-enactment with them taking firing lines and timing their shots with muskets.

You lost me on the magnetic stuff. And i can tell you personally that having the Gene doesn't make you special.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**Fwd: Chuckles**

**From: John  
**

**To: Leese **

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

Speak for yourself. :)

As far as the Gauss Technology, from what i saw it was more designed to take on larger unshielded threats. If i'm right, shields would pretty much deflect any number of those cannon shots.

So to put it bluntly. Space Battles, We win every time. Ground Battles... uhh lets just hope they're friendly.

* * *

**Fwd:Atlantis Personnel  
**

**From: Larrin  
**

**To: Chucky **

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

None of their technology is really worth our time except that Armor. My people haven't had a need for ballistics armor like that in eons and we're pretty out of the loop with it. Railguns are easy to figure out and we can design much better stuff, just need the materials.

Maybe if you got off your cute ass and actually helped me design a coil system for our ships that doesn't involve ripping a whole section out i'd be more useful to this discussion ^_^ (Thanks Sam for explaining "Smileys")

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**Fwd: Chucky  
**

**From: Sam (Transcribed by Daniel Jackson)  
**

**To: Larrin**

**Re: The Olim (Technology)**

I agree, most of their technology may be inferior to ours, but their knowledge of Magnetic fields might come in very handy. How they were able to create a genetic interface is also something we need to explore.

About our ships, see Radek for his proposal on the East Pier. I've already said yes but to talk to you first.

And Smiley's are cute ^_^ I can _totally_ see you doing this. Swing by later and i'll show you some more.

_

* * *

_

**A/N:** Don't ask. I went momentarily crazy and when I woke up this was done :P There are a few parts to this that i'll release over my "hiatus".

Awww. you guys didn't think i'd just leave this alone did ya? :P


	18. Chuck's Notes on Olim Alcaeus Armor!

_The following information has been collated and organized by Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Campbell, new head of Atlantis Human Resources, based on recorded information recovered from the Jumper on Magna Secundus, Shared Olim Intelligence, as well as first hand accounts from various expedition members. Make sure to reply to this forwarded collated e-mail with a confirmation of receipt.

* * *

_

**From: Lieutenant Chuck Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel **

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

The Olim armor which we now know is called "Alcaeus Armor" is as Carson will quote me, "_freakin' awesome!"_ (Sorry Colonel Carter. I had to say it)

Below is a report on the Alcaeus Armor produced by Reyna Arius and Dr. Radek Zelenka, as well as first hand accounts from our team on Magna Secundus and a point of view explanation from Lt. Col. John Sheppard.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Dr Radek Zelenka & Reyna Arius (Proofread by Chuck)**

**To: Charles Campbell**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

The Alcaeus armor is in essence, a self-sustaining Naquadah power generator feeding a system of magnetic coils and an on-board computer. The linking eyepiece uses similar technology to the mental interface on some higher end Lantean technology, but instead of simply using the ATA gene as a bridge, it also utilizes the wearer's neural activity as a form of sensor.

This gives the suit wearer a reaction time much higher than the average human, and may appear it give the wearer "superhuman" speed.

The magnetic coils control the suit's primary function, which is to radiate a form fitting layer of Trinium around the wearer to act as armor. The Magnetic field serves as a '_hardener' _and solidifies the Trinium upon any impact.

No projectile weapons we currently have are capable of penetrating this armor, however the kinetic force is still transferred into the wearer although on a lesser degree. Colonel Sheppard likened it to "Being in a bathtub getting pelted by BBs." Which although very esoteric, is an apt analogy for the perceived sensation of the wearer.

This Magnetic field can also create the appearance of super strength, as the field will grow in intensity to accomplish motions. This drains the power reserve though and must be manually activated by the wearer.

An active camouflage system has also been reported, though testing of the system cannot at this time be done.

Further abilities are suspected, but require more research.

Any action taken in the Alcaeus armor while the Trinium Hull is deployed will drain the reserves of the 'backpack' unit. The Backpack contains a micro-fusion generator powered by molecularized Naquadah canister, which feeds into a battery pack made of a superconducting silicon based material (Possible Shade reverse engineering?)

The power reserves have been estimated at around 12 to 15 hours with light use of the suit's abilities. This is not counting the possibility of carrying extra naquadah canisters.

There has so far been only one weakness discovered in the suit, because of the Trinium and Magnetic Field it generates, it is particularly susceptible to any form of conducting energy weapon. Both Wraith Stunners and Traveler Particle Magnums on Stun have proven effective.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Alicia**

**To: Chuckles**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

It's fast, it's strong, and it's _very_ dangerous. If you see this thing on the field, you better hope he's friendly.

John, why'd you have to leave that thing back there? Now we're gonna have to trade for one and I wanted to see what it was like!

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Lt. Drake**

**To: Chucky Cheese**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

I saw one of the Olim troops on Magna Secundus take 3 of those little Shade bastards on without his gun, and he still won. You're right that it's freaking awesome, but we better hope we never have to face them again.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: D. Jackson**

**To: Chuck (Charles)**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

In response to your query, Alcaeus is an ancient name in Greece. The Olim have demonstrated several different cultural references to our own ancient societies including Ancient Greek, Ancient Rome, as well as Etruscan.

The most famous form of Alcaeus is an early name given to Heracles (Hercules) of ancient Greek legend.

Unfortunately the only two visual medias we have for Hercules is that rather over the top television series "Hercules" staring Kevin Sorbo that was part of the medias collected when we went through the city after coming here, as well as the old black and white film "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" which I will not comment on.

Ironically enough, both films were owned by Major Teldy.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Sheppard**

**To: Chucknician**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

To be quick, think the Mjolnir Armor from Halo, or that cool Nanosuit from Crysis. Yes, I know you all play it. It IS the last game we were able to bring from Earth and with Atlantis's processing power and Chuck's excellent modding and work in 3dsMax and AutoCad, it's quite fun with multiplayer. (I posted a screenshot of it awhile ago and people couldn't tell the difference between it and real life.)

Back to the point, the suit will literally carry itself once it's activated and with the eyepiece, a virtual interface will assess you for using it. Unfortunately, even _I'm_ a little too "primitive" to use the advanced features and I can't tell you how bad the headache was when I tried. Don't Do It!

I'm guessing now, but the suit automatically adjusted itself to fit my 'physiology' as it so bluntly put it. I had increased speed, strength, as well as an assortment of sensors and HUD accessories available in a manner similar to the Jumpers. I was unable to see what other features the Armor might have beyond stealth as it ran out of power at that point.

I recommend to anyone who thinks they might encounter someone with this, keep a stunner or Pmag on you. Even the Shade couldn't break that armor (as I found out personally)

Leese, Sorry bout that. I'll make sure to add it to the request for the seashells _(I'm never getting tired of that)._

And Daniel. I'm stealing "Three Stooges Meet Hercules" for our next movie night.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**Fwd: Chuck**

**From: Sam (Transcribed by D. Jackson) **

**To: John**

**Re: The Olim (Alcaeus Armor)**

John,

I know _everyone_ has played Halo and Crysis, but could you _please_ keep the Earth references to a minimum? I'd like to be able to talk about this without someone going "_Maximum Strength!"_ or asking me if Cortana is my idol.

This goes for everyone please.

Thank you, Please pass this onto Chuck.

Sincerely, Sam.

P.S. Yes, I saw that picture you have on how to use the shells and I can't say I agree that it's a superior way of dealing with… _that._

_(Note from Sheppard: Oh come on! Everyone knows it! We've had tournaments! Okay, if anyone's confused, either e-mail me or come down to the media room so I can show you. I can even show you how to use the three shells using the diagram I printed out.)_

_(Note from Chuck: I've seen the diagram… I agree with Colonel Carter.)_

_

* * *

  
_

**A/N:** Don't ask. I went momentarily crazy and when I woke up this was done :P There are a few parts to this that i'll release over my "hiatus". Next week is the "Shade"

Awww. you guys didn't think i'd just leave this alone did ya? :P


	19. Chuck's Notes on Shade Origins!

_The following information has been collated and organized by Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Campbell, new head of Atlantis Human Resources, based on recorded information recovered from the Jumper on Magna Secundus, Shared Olim Intelligence, as well as first hand accounts from various expedition members. Make sure to reply to this forwarded collated e-mail with a confirmation of receipt._

* * *

**From: Lieutenant Chuck Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel **

**Re: The Shade (Origins)**

While their real name for themselves in unknown, the "Shade' is a colloquial term given to these creatures by the Olim as when they arrive over a planet, typically their numbers are so great that it blocks out the majority of the light from the sun/stars. _(If you've watched 300, you know what I'm talking about)_

Curious little buggers as he'd say, Carson has some theories as to how they could have come into existence.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Doctor Carson Beckett**

**To: Lieutenant Charles Campbell **

**Re: The Shade (Origins)**

Yes, while it is true we do not as of yet know precisely where the Shade have come from examination of their remains have brought us a rudimentary understanding of their physiology.

Silicon based life is not all that dissimilar to carbon based life, but due to limitations of the element itself, its actually very unusual for this to have happened naturally.

Which is why after testing, I and Reyna are both convinced that the Ancients had a hand in helping this species along. On closer examination, there are aspects to the genome of the creatures themselves which defies reason.

One of the most obvious things that seem to defy explanation, would be the genetic structure or "handedness" of the material itself. Without going into a very technical explanation, Carbon has both "left" and "right" handedness in it's protein chain combinations. This allows a variety of life and many different kinds of proteins necessary for life.

Silicon is only one "handed" in this sense, but examinations of the Shade remains we've brought back shows both 'handed' proteins. There actually appears to be a splicing of Naquadah joining the proteins together, not unlike the Goa'uld protein marker in some respects.

Their physical properties are quite unique. Instead of skin, the creature forms a hardened silicon exoskeleton. Between each individual section, a softer membrane resembling Kevlar allows for a significant range of motion while remaining air tight.

The different creatures we've encountered seem to be different genus of the same species. For a relatable analogy, think of a small dog compared to some larger dogs.

In lieu of an inner skeleton and other proportioned organs, the creature seems to use a system of bladders that act as each type of organ needed for life, as well as support for movements. I've been able to identify organs that function like lungs, stomachs, and even one particularly powerful one that acts like a heart that pumps it's hydration.

Speaking of which, should anyone encounter a wounded Shade, stay away. All Shade we've encountered use some form of acid as hydration. I've theorized that this is to keep the Silicon the creatures are made of from oxidizing. Unlike Carbon life, which when oxidizes creates Carbon Dioxide (what we breath out) the Shade instead produce Silicon Dioxide, which is a solid sand-like crystalline material. While not directly, a similar silicon/carbon hybrid creature we encountered expunged this waste in both an acid paste form, and a blowhole of sorts.

One very important thing we've discovered. The larger Shade Creatures appear to have a projectable heat sink that draws in heat energy from the targeted area. For sake of simplicity, we're calling it a "Freeze Ray" even though it's technically inaccurate. Colonel Carter can explain in more detail.

Much more research needs to be done and with the Shade creature that came through the stargate during the evacuation of the Olim colony, I hope to learn much more.

* * *

**From: Lieutenant Chuck Campbell**

**To: Atlantis Personnel **

**Re: The Shade (First Hand experiences)**

From my own experience aboard the Daedalus last month. I can tell you that it's not pleasant to fight these things (even under the Daedalus's shields.)

It was much faster than we expected, and from what I could see, the ship sized creature actually healed its injuries from our railgun and missile attacks as it fell back.

Below are the first hand experiences of our people who have encountered Shade.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Alicia**

**To: Chuckles**

**Re: The Shade (First Hand Accounts)**

The first ones we engaged were on the ground, little nasty buggers that acted with a pack mentality. Our heavier weapons (SCAR's) were enough to hold them back and even kill quite a few of them, but there were just so many that it was impossible for us to take them all down.

Personally, I found aiming for the joint between the forearms was a good tactic. Once it had lost an arm, it couldn't move nearly as fast and was easier to aim for. They didn't seem too interested in actually fighting us though. It was almost as if we were just an annoyance compared to what they were trying to do.

Stick together with your teammates, aim low, and hold the trigger. That's the best advice I can give about these guys.

With the larger Shade, I think I should just mention that seeing as I have the most experience fighting them (That's 4 kills mind you. Do I get an Ace pin when I kill another since they were all in a Jumper?) I can say that you will need heavy weapons. Drones seem to work best as they're quite fast and maneuverable in the air despite their size, but an AT-4 or Javelin will do the trick quite well.

Given our experience on Magna Secundus, I don't recommend using Stingers as the heat tracking system won't properly target them. I'm sure Drake will be more than happy to tell you about his 'almost' kill.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Dan**

**To: Chucky Cheese**

**Re: The Shade (First hand experiences)**

Well to start, I've killed 3 of the big ones, and around 5 or 6 of the smaller ones. I second Lisa's suggestions on dealing with the larger ones as both times I had to use anti-tank weaponry.

With the smaller ones, I suggest aiming in between their forearms. It seemed to stun them when i hit them there and under combined fire they went down. I do agree about them not really paying too much attention to us unless we were directly threatening them.

About the "almost" kill, I do not recommend using the Stinger Launchers we have. The heat tracking failed miserably and the damn missile ended up nailing some burning bush. Talk about a waste of ordinance. I do have the second most number of kills for those big boys though. 3 of em using an AT-4 twice and a Javelin launcher.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**Fwd: Chucky Cheese**

**From: Major Alicia Vega**

**To: Lieutenant Dan Drake**

**Re: The Shade (First Hand Experiences)**

Dan, don't call me Lisa. I hated it in school and I hate it now. First and only warning. In fact, pass this to Chuck so everyone knows.

And we're still on for Brawl, don't think just because we're faced with some unknown enemy of a completely different element I'm not going to take 20 minutes out of my life to kick your ass with Kirby.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Call me Dusty**

**To: Chucky **

**Re: The Shade (First Hand Experiences)**

Nasty motherfuckers. That first one we took out during the Sylek incident was an eye opener. It took about half a clip to take out one of the smaller ones and I don't even think my bullets did any real damage to the big boys.

The acid thing Carson talked about is real. A lot of us got a ton of tiny burns from how close those little fuckers got before we could kill them.(I think I saw Colonel Sheppard with a bandage around his arm. I got a little slice on my cheek.)

If we're going to meet these things again I think we should really work out some kind of trade with the Olim even though they're dicks. Those Gauss Rifles looked pretty tasty and I want one.

Can we get some Colonel Carter? Please? Pretty please? I've got a crate of gum I'd be willing to trade!

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**Fwd: Chucky**

**From: Colonel Samantha Carter (Transcribed by Lt. Col. John Sheppard)**

**To: Sergeant "Dusty" Mehra**

**Re: The Shade (First Hand Experiences)**

We'll have to see Sergeant. There are a lot of things we'll need to negotiate with the Olim over the coming weeks, so what I suggest you do if you're willing to part with some things is to add your inventory to the manifest in the computer so we know.

I wouldn't expect much in the way of weapons technology though. While their Gauss Technology is impressive, it's nothing that we can't achieve on our own or even improve upon.

As far as the Shade, Yes, they are _very_ resistant to bullet fire and even seem to have instinctual predator traits. I only faced a few while on Magna Secundus but from what their Governor "Aulus" told me of them, they are highly intelligent and will adapt to your fighting style.

Colonel Sheppard has the most experience with the Shade as well as Olim Technology, I've asked him to write a small report and send it to Chuck. If you could do the same with this one?

Sincerely, Colonel Carter.

_(Note from Sheppard: She's watching me now. No more notes ;( )_

_(Note from Carter: He knows not to incite my wrath.)_

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Sheppard**

**To: Chucknician **

**Re: The Shade (First Hand Experiences)**

Well since Colonel Carter is threatening me with a crutch, I don't have much choice but to sit out of reach of her and type this out._ (Note, She's still threatening me)._

To start, I agree with what everyone's said so far. Tough. Little. Bastards. On more than one occasion during the evacuation, I fired what would have normally killed even a Wraith at one of the Shade and inflicted only superficial damage. It seemed that a kill only occured when we either got a lucky shot, or literally tore away a section of its exoskeleton.

The little dog like ones had the tendency to get close in and try and swipe at us with their forearms. At that range though, it was hard to miss and we got plenty of good shots in.

Dusty, i did slice my arm up pretty bad. Carson says it would probably scar but Rey brought some wacky cream out that should get rid of most of it. Burned like hell when it happened.

Both Drake and Alicia are correct. Aim for the exposed joints or the "face" as we're agreeing to call it in order to get better shots. The exoskeleton is a lot tougher than it looks and will either reflect or just get chipped away by weapons fire.

I've already written about the Olim Armor, so you might want to go back and read that again. I will say that it gave me a significant edge over the smaller Shade, but against the larger ones I still had a hard fight. _(Note from Carter: Just remembered, During my experience on Magna Secundus, Aulus explained that the Shade use a form of heat drawing organ to absorb heat from the surrounding area. The space ship sized Shade appear to have a larger form I witnessed that froze the area around the Olim Colony. More information will be released on a need to know basis.)_

Like Carter just said, the bigger ones seems to have the ability to freeze things so it's not just their sharp pincer things you need to be worried about. If they're strong enough to tear a jumper open like a can of sardines, then I think our standard Kevlar or even Naquadah laced ceramic plates won't hold up well.

I've agreed with Colonel Carter that information about directly engaging Shade from now on will be classified to a need to know basis. If you need to know, you will.

* * *

**A/N:** One more part to the Shade. then maybe 1-2 more things and i'll try and get the next episode out :)


	20. Chuck's Notes on Shade Types!

_The following information has been collated and organized by Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Campbell, new head of Atlantis Human Resources, based on recorded information recovered from the Jumper on Magna Secundus, Shared Olim Intelligence, as well as first hand accounts from various expedition members. Make sure to reply to this forwarded collated e-mail with a confirmation of receipt.

* * *

_

**From: Chuck**

**To: Atlantis Personnel**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

So far we've been able to ascertain 5 different types of Shade, each type differing in size one to the other. I personally have only seen the large ship sized ones.

Based on the first hand experiences by our people, as well as intelligence the Olim have provided regarding the Shade. I've created a small list for easy referencing when discussing the different Shade. The Olim Material was rather long and obfuscating (love that word) so I've taken the liberty of making a "layman's" version below for our own use.

**- Small Sized Creatures / Olim Class 1 Shade ****(Sparkies)**** Creature:** Named Sparkies for their dog like behavior, they sport tough forelimbs and can rapidly move along uneven terrain. Roughly shaped like a spider with 6 legs (4 of them are small and hardly noticeable), its tough crystalline exoskeleton allows it to take a significant amount of punishment before attempting retreat.

Their primary goal appears to be digging exploratory tunnels in the ground to gauge how much and what type of raw minerals are in the ground, as well as serving as a front line unit against any potential resistance. The Olim Database comments that these creatures have little regard for their own health and often leap straight into fire if there's a chance they can succeed.

Extreme caution should be taken if you see one as more than likely there are another 2 if not 10 of them along with their larger cousins.

**- Medium sized Creatures / Olim Class 2 Shade Creature (Gremlins):** Named Gremlins for their inherent tendency of latching onto ships, buildings, and any other man made structure, these Shade are the most dangerous unit of the Shade evolved specifically to protect the larger craft.

Variously sized from that of a large desk to a jumper, it uses a form of Naquadah to power an organic thrust system to give it flight capabilities. A trio of short tentacles act as thrust vectoring and it clearly outclasses any man made flight vessel. Added to this are 2 large fore arm spikes that it uses to dig in the ground to get to the Naquadah it needs to fly… or to tear a Jumper open like a can of sardines.

First encountered by the Traveler ship Hylea, the Olim database states that this is often the most dangerous form of the Shade encountered as well as the most commonly encountered on its own. It requires combined large rifle caliber fire (At least 7.62mm), Railgun fire, or heavy armor piercing explosives in order to defeat.

Unless heavy weapons are available, retreat and regrouping is the best option.

**- Medium-Large Creatures: / Olim Class 3 Shade Creature**** (SchoolBuses)****:** Named a school bus because when they arrive to a planet, swarms of Sparkies and Gremlins burst forth onto the scene. Designed almost specifically as a troop carrier of sorts, it uses an unknown system of hyperdrive to move from star to star. It is the equivalent of a Small Aircraft carrier in Earth terms. Relies on its complement for food and hydration collection. Shaped like a fat cigar, it is a true show of function over form. Requires fighter craft to engage or several anti-air/tank weapons.

We have yet to see one of these up close, but judging from the information in the Olim Database (Which the above information is gleaned from) we won't like it if we do see one.

**Large Creatures / Olim Class 4 Shade Creature**** (Tinmen)****:** First seen by yours truly, they are nothing like the Star Trek Counterparts they are named after beyond being an organic life form that lives in space. Their primary role seems to be to sift through the remains of shattered planets for raw materials and the heat from the exposed cores. Also known as "Resource Nodes" they can 'piggyback' other Shade and serve as a Cruiser of sorts.

Their only long range weapon is a heat/energy sink beam that seems to negate our shield technology. However at the size of a Wraith Cruiser and much stronger materials, it will physically latch onto ships to drain their energy and consume the raw materials. First encountered by the Expedition by Lt. Col. Marks and the Daedalus during our initial recon mission.

They are shaped roughly beetle like and the large appendages can be used to latch onto materials or ships for consumption. Only ship based weapons stand a chance of defeating it.

**Giant Shade Creatures / Olim Class 5 Shade Creature**** (Unnamed as of Yet)****:** Not seen very frequently by even the Olim, these creatures are the by far strongest of the Shade. At the roughly the size of the province of Ontario (I kid you not, the Olim are **very** specific that these things are ridiculously huge), their primary role is planetary strip mining as far as the Olim have been able to deduce.

Shaped like a crumpled up paper ball with a giant spike on one end, they can unfurl into large almost butterfly like shapes that span thousands of miles. It is as of yet unknown why they can do this

It can't be confirmed, but we suspect one of these was the craft observed over Magna Secundus.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Call me Dusty**

**To: Chucky **

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

Great list, but you've got too much time on your hands Chuck. You should call the big ones "Death Stars".

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Alicia**

**To: Chuckles**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

That's actually not bad. I feel bad that I lol'ed at Gremlins. (It's a good thing nothing bad happens if _these_ get wet.)

I think you should post that up as a memo or something to everyone. Might wanna ask Carter first though.

Are we taking votes on what to call the big ones? I say we stay away from another Star Wars joke.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Colonel Samantha Carter (Transcribed by Lt. Col. John Sheppard)**

**To: Chuck **

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

Great work Chuck! Feel free to post it up but keep any classified information out of it. I want everyone knowledgeable, but let's wait till we have more facts before starting a panic.

And no, we'll name the big ones when the time comes. Hopefully something people who haven't watched the Star Wars Trilogy can understand.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Sheppard**

**To: Chucknician**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

I laughed for longer than I'd like to admit.

Make sure to get Marks to send you his report on the "Tinman" you guys encountered.

And I agree with Sam, let's leave anymore naming till we come to that point.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Lt. Col. Kevin Marks**

**To: Lt. Chuck Campbell**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

Good Job with that Chuck. Although the Sci-Fi references may fly over the Traveler's heads, most of it is understandable.

The "Tinman" as you put it, was a lesson for us all. Do NOT underestimate these creatures. They are completely immune to our energy weapons but seem sensitive to railgun fire.

As of this moment, 3 of the Traveler Ships, the Amenko, the Karyan, and the Udlex have been refitted with railgun technology. We are _very_ low on proper ammunition though so most of the fleet is scavenging worlds nearby.

At this moment, Daedalus and Atlantis itself are the only weapons we have with enough strength to take on these larger Shade. They don't seem to be openly aggressive though so we may have that advantage.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Personnel**

**From: Larrin**

**To: Chucky**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

Continuing what Marky Mark was talking about, our technical staff has been able to reverse engineer your railgun technology (not like it was difficult) to match our power sources and hardware. As he said though, ammunition is a problem besides some other issues with the ships themselves.

Anyone with any welding experience or who wants to learn to weld and refit our ships should come see me right away. With Atlantis pretty much back to normal except a few key systems, I think it's time we diverted our attention to reverse engineering as much advanced technology as we can as well as refitting our ships so they're effective in this galaxy.

* * *

**Fwd: Atlantis Command Staff**

**Fwd: Chucky**

**From: Sam (Transcribed by Lt. Col. John Sheppard.)**

**To: Larrin**

**Re: The Shade (Types)**

Agreed, I'm going to be holding a general conference in a few days _(Note from Sheppard: We'll see what Carson has to say about that) _to go over our plan for the next few months in all aspects of the city. Give this to Chuck and make sure he gets it to all the command staff please. There's a lot more we need to discuss about the Shade and it's going to take us awhile.

_

* * *

  
_

**A/N:** Don't ask. I went momentarily crazy and when I woke up this was done :P This is the last "Email" feature and there's just one more little tidbit before we get back to Episodes :D


	21. Deleted Scenes and Bloopers :P

**Dark Frontier, Season 0.5, Deleted Scenes & Bloopers**

**A/N:**_ Special treat for you all. Since I've kept these episodes relatively short, a lot was implied and certain scenes were "Deleted" so to speak. Lucky you! The best one from each episode is being put here (if it exists) :P a mix of comedy to romance to even something as simple as friendship are here!_

_Also, bloopers ;) Can you blame me? Actually you shouldn't because **IceMenace **taunted me with the idea when I told her about the "special features" and I __had to do it then You can blame **Neela** as well :p just cracktastic humor._

_Honestly I wouldn't put too much credence into these deleted scenes as typically I "deleted" them for one reason or another, but they're still nice slices._

* * *

**Episode 1 – Welcome to Saudade Dr Beckett.**

_**(Deleted from Final Scene, A Carson and Reyna moment. Sort of like an extra tag. Too many tags feel… bleh.)**_

"So you've been able to isolate the spore… but you haven't been able to find a proper immune system booster to fight the infection it creates?"

Reyna nodded and scratched her chin. "I'm out of my league here Doctor… I'm not used to dealing with atmospheric issues like this." She sighed, obviously frustrated.

Carson could understand and used the digital pen in his hands to switch folders. "I can understand that… you've lived your whole life on a ship haven't you?"

The young Traveler woman nodded again and clicked her tongue. "Don't have spore issues on a ship with reprocessed air. I'm really hoping you can help us out with this Doctor."

"Carson." Carson said it idly, now thinking about how the Wraith dealt with organic pollutants like this.

"Pardon?"

Carson turned to her and smiled. "Please… call me Carson."

Reyna smiled at the warm nature Carson had. "Okay… then you can call me Reyna, Carson."

"Reyna." Carson smiled, then turned back to the computer. "Perhaps the Wraith database we captured has some information…"

* * *

_**(Blooper, Carson sees the planet Saudade Orbits)**_

They'd reached their destination, and Carson drew in a long shocked gasp. Off in the bright distance, high in the sky, the Sun shone brightly through strangely formed clouds.

But that was nothing compared to the giant blue planet that dominated the horizon. "Laura…. Where are we?"

"We're calling this moon Saudade… and we're safe from the Wraith and Replicators because…" Laura hesitated, even after 2 weeks it was still overwhelming. "_…we're six hundred million light years from Earth."_ Carson's throat constricted and he began to breath faster. Laura noticed instantly and put her arms around him. "Carson… come on… it's okay…"

"It's okay…?" Carson was almost hyperventilating now; this was _by far_ the _last_ thing he could have possibly expected when Jennifer put him in the stasis tube. "_It's okay!?_ I'm in the ass end of the universe and it's okay!?" Suddenly going into a stereotypical Scottish accent a la Robin Williams, Carson screamed. "_Fuck Noooo! _I came back'ta the show fer this?"

Laura tried to stifle her snort, but it lodged in her throat and a raspy laugh emitted. "I know how you feel!"

The Director of the episode smacks his forehead and chuckles. "Cut!"

* * *

**Episode 2: Home is Where the Heart is**

_**(Deleted Scene: A Sam and Larrin moment. Taken out simply because it didn't really fit the tone of the episode. Still nice and might make an appearance elsewhere.)**_

"You look like hell." Larrin didn't bother mincing words as she entered the room.

Sam smirked and rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised, I've been awake for awhile now."

Larrin leaned forward on the desk with her palms and shook her head. "No no no… I don't mean you look like hell because you're in shock… I mean you look like hell because that outfit looks terrible."

Sam raised her eyebrow at the suggestion. "Excuse me?"

Snickering, Larrin shook her head at her. "You look like you're color blind and have the fashion sense of a 4 year old."

Sam looked down at the Traveler outfit she was wearing _(She'd promised herself not to wear BDU's until she felt comfortable in them again) _and didn't see anything too wrong. "What? What's wrong with my clothes?"

Larrin got up and waved Sam to get up as well. She did so and wondered what the hell Larrin was on. "Look. You're wearing 2 darker colors on top and lighter pants. You look like you can't make up your mind,"

Now Sam didn't know whether to be offended on her choice of clothing _(which when she chose was admittedly short ranged)_ or appreciative that Larrin would notice and want to help. "Really? Well what do you suggest?"

Larrin waved her hand for Sam to follow. "Come on! I'll show you my wardrobe. Hopefully we can find something nice and sexy."

Now Sam was scared. She recalled going with SG1 on a mission against the Lucian Alliance and having to wear a ridiculously low cut leather top. She never could wipe that grin off Cameron's face. "Let's try and keep the sexy subtle."

* * *

**(Blooper, Daniel feels the pain of different galactic foods.)**

Sam didn't know exactly what Daniel was saying, but she answered his question none the less. "The conduits are going to take at least 5 months _if_ we can get the resources we need and we keep up this level of work. The Drive itself…" Sam sighed, and thought about what Zelenka had told her. "It'll be a long time… maybe never... it's more fried than a Taco Bell chalupa."

A snort left Daniel's throat, and he rolled his eyes. "Never tried one. Fried foods and me don't agree." Daniel started to shift around uncomfortably in a very exaggerated motion and stuck his hips out to the rear. One hand came on the side of his hips and he gulped.

Sam resisted her laugh for a second and sputtered. "I'd kill for a-a Big Mac…" Seeing Daniel give her a horrified look Sam couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing "Do you need a doctor to look in there?"

Daniel groaned and continued the farce. "Maybe… but make sure it's Rey and not Carson! Smaller fingers you know?"

The entire film crew devolved into laughter as Daniel continued his uncomfortable intestinal dance and Sam broke into laughter.

* * *

**Episode 3 – Suspicions**

_**(A Daniel and John awkward friendship moment, didn't feel right though)**_

"Nice looking… _Eugh_." John made no attempt to hide his disgust at the creature in the specimen case. "…least it doesn't look like vomit."

Daniel rolled his eyes and set the case down in the back of the Jumper. "You should have seen what it was excreting."

John groaned. "Aw it was taking a dump? Thanks Jackson… I just had the Jumper cleaned too."

The archeologist chuckled, and watched as Drake and Dusty brought back some rocks from inside the tunnel to mimic the conditions back in Atlantis. "So uhh… you and Sam huh?"

John shrugged and shifted on his feet. "It's not what you think."

"Oh what do I think?" Daniel loved every second of this. Any chance to get a military man jittery was a win in his books.

With a soft groan, John turned to him. "Look, we both love Futurama okay? Hardly anyone else enjoys it and it's nice to watch it with someone who can appreciate such fine humor."

Daniel fought with every ounce of his willpower to keep from making a snarky comment. "Must be long if you guys fell asleep watching it."

John's face went red in embarrassment. "Uhh… well.. it was late… and we were tired already and…"

Daniel decided to give the poor Lieutenant Colonel a break. "John. It's okay. I'm not going to go all big brother on you. It's not like I can really threaten you either since unless I ambush you I doubt I could do much. Besides, I trust you not to hurt her."

Now red from his eyebrows to his neck, John simply grunted in acknowledgment.

But Daniel couldn't resist, and had to make one last comment. "If you do hurt her though, I'll ascend again and kick your ass."

A scoffing wince came over John's face, and he resisted laughing. "Point taken."

* * *

**(Blooper, John reminisces about Atlantis and makes Sam a business proposition)**

When she _still_ didn't come out, he tapped on his headset. "Sam, are you there? This is Daniel."

A few moments passed, and Sam's tired voice came in. _"Daniel? Hmmm is that you?"_

"Sam! Where are you?"

Daniel had figured Sam fell asleep at her desk or potentially with a torch in her hand from working all day. He wasn't expecting to hear John curse softly in the background as Sam replied. "_Uhh… I'm uhh…"_

Suddenly realizing he was interrupting her in the middle of…

Well that was just it. _What _exactly _was_ he interrupting?! "Uhh… am I…?"

Sam's answer was vehement and quick. _"No! No no-no-no… uhh…just rela…"_

John's voice interrupted in a very irritated tone. "_Actually yes you are! If you'll excuse me Jackson, me and Sam were about to up the ratings of this show! I haven't gotten laid since Season 3 of Atlantis and god knows when's the last time Sam's had her plumbing checked!"_

Several of the film crew began to snicker, and off to the side Sam turned and snorted at John. "If I really were Sam I'd have gone insane ages ago."

John motioned to the camera, then hooked his thumb at Sam. "She signed the no-nudity waiver right? Nuts, woulda made a mint selling that…_OW!"_

Sam reached out and tugged on John's ear. "Oh really? Would I have gotten any profits?"

Crying out in pain as she pulled him lower and lower, John cried out. "_Yes yes! Ow ow ow!"_

The director in his chair laughed unashamedly, and called out using his megaphone. "Hey careful with the goods Sam! Our insurance doesn't cover ear surgery."

Sam smiled deviously and let go of John's ear just as he tugged away sending him stumbling about. "Too bad."

* * *

**Episode 4 – Old Habits.**

_**(Deleted Scene: John and Alicia friendship moment. Referenced in later episodes as the start of their friendship.)**_

"Huh… Gravity works."

Alicia couldn't help it and laughed at the hilarious sight. "You okay sir?"

John groaned softly and picked himself off the floor. Granted he _thought_ the branch was strong enough to support his weight, but apparently, he needed to do some more running. "Oh yeah… falling 6 feet onto my ass… I'm _just fine."_

Alicia tried to stifle her snicker, but it was pointless. "Sorry sir… I may have broken that branch getting up here."

John smiled threateningly at her. "_Thanks_ for the warning."

A few stifled laughs, and John got back up despite the soreness in his back. He swore that when he got up there _(Because he was __going__ to get up to that 20 foot perch Alicia had chosen)_ he was going to nag that smile off her.

"Use that thicker branch with the big knot below it."

"Ohhh you're gonna get it now."

* * *

**(Blooper, Teyla confesses her **_**terrible**_** secret.)**

Seeing both Alicia and Dusty bothered by the reply, John figured that since they were about half of what was left of Earth's Atlantis Expedition _still in_ Atlantis… "It's okay Teyla… I'd rather we all know than keep secrets anymore."

John could see that Teyla saw his logic, and the gears in her head came to the same conclusion. "Very well… at the heart of the matter, I'm having Radek's love child and we're running away together to start our tribe of super intelligent banto rod warriors." It was said with the most serious tone, and only Teyla's incredible acting skills and poise managed to keep her from bursting out laughing.

Dusty gave her a shit-eating grin with the hint of a snort and deadpanned. "Radek? Are you _serious!?_."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Ronon stifled a snicker. "Where'd you find the time to sleep with _Radek_?"

John palmed his forehead and deadpanned. "Knowing Radek, it might have happened in a _very_ different way."

By this point Daniel had turned to the camera and rolled his eyes as he resisted his laughter. "13 years and we still can't get past one scene without a joker." He then turned to Teyla. "Teyla, never change."

* * *

**Episode 5 - …Die Hard**

_**(Deleted Scene: Larrin/John moment after the final scene, I felt it was over and didn't need to add this. Referenced in a later episode.)**_

"You're really pretty you know that?"

Larrin rolled her eyes. "You've told me."

The man was barely even walking now, almost fully supported by Larrin. Thankfully, his room was only about 20 feet away now. "Really? Have I?"

A snort, now that Larrin thought about it she couldn't think of a time he'd said that either. "Probably not, but you're trying to get laid so that tells me enough."

John started chuckling and forced one foot after another forward. "Is it working?"

Larrin smiled; at least his moment of vulnerability was gone. "Nope."

A few more chuckles and they were inside his room. Larrin was rarely if ever in here and she took it for what it was worth. Lots of gadgets and a few beer cans still lying around… most of it looked fresh though so she didn't think he was a pig. "Tuck me in?"

Now Larrin laughed openly. The man had already fallen backwards onto his bed and was trying to get comfortable. "Baby."

He didn't care, John rolled around a bit until Larrin sat down and tossed a blanket over him. He turned to look at her and seemed surprisingly coherent. "You ever wonder 'bout us?"

Larrin took a few moments to think about it. It wasn't an easy question. "Sometimes."

"Regret it?"

Whether John would remember having this conversation or not was debatable. So Larrin decided to be vague. "Dunno yet."

John closed his eyes and laid his head back. "Me neither…" Seeing that it was over, Larrin gave his shoulder a rub and began to get up. John's voice trailed comically. "Hey! Don't I get a kiss goodnight?"

Larrin had to admit, stubborn _did_ turn her on. She leaned back and gave him a soft peck on his left temple, then shoved him deeper into the bed as she pushed herself off. "There. Now sleep it off drunky."

John mused happily as he rolled over and dozed off. Larrin could already tell he'd have a hell of a hangover the next day, but whatever had happened between him and Sam was passed and she hoped he manned up soon..

* * *

**No Blooper, can't really think of anything and nothing stands out.

* * *

**

**Episode 6: The Motions**

_(Deleted Scene: Okay… this requires a long explanation. **TheIceMenace** kept bugging me over whether John and Alicia ever actually __DID the "drunken nasty" as **Neela** put it. Soooo… the answer is…_

_I really don't know. Honestly. I have a plan for every relationship and friendship in the series and I guess I never worked this one little tidbit out in my head. I think I don't want to._

_In response to **TheIceMenace's **pestering though :P (Aw ya know we luv ya), I've written two versions. I leave it to you to decide which one happened.. or if either happened since I'm not canonizing either since they're way too… whatever… for my taste. Consider this fanfiction of my own fanfiction LOL)_

* * *

**(Version 1 The Snuggly Wuggly Version)**

**--------------**

"Aw come on Leese… I's cold out there!"

Alicia snickered and dragged John along. "Don't worry… we'll be warm enough."

John chuckled thinking what she might mean. He mentally slapped himself for thinking such a ridiculous thing. They'd had fun, but this couldn't end that way. "Wha's so cool you had't drag m'halfway across the city?"

The door to the balcony opened, and John raised his eyebrows as he swayed from side to side. That Traveler Ale sure hit the spot. Alicia moved forward and held his hand. "Look…"

John looked, most obvious was the large blue ringed planet in the night horizon, the lack of much lights in Atlantis at night meant the entire night sky was visible. It was awe inspiringly beautiful.

It wasn't until Alicia pulled him forward that he noticed the Sofa on the balcony. A sofa that had a pull out bed and pillows and a blanket. "What the…? How'd this get'ere?"

Alicia snickered and hopped onto the sofa/bed and stretched out watching the night sky. "Traveler's put it. They love watching the sky…" She turned to John and giggled. "Cheesy I know… but I haven't watched the sky in a long time. Come on! It's getting cold!"

Seeing that he had no choice, John chuckled as he sat down and swung his legs onto the bed. He kept his head on the pillow and focused on the sky, and not the attractive woman next to him. "It really _is _beautiful isn't it?"

Alicia quickly cuddled up, laying her head on John's shoulder. They'd spent so much time training, going on patrols to Refugee villages or even just messing around like buddies that she felt very comfortable around him. "Yeah…" She sighed softly and lowered her voice. "When I was younger… I used to look up at the sky and wonder whether there was anything up there."

John chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "…Me too…" he snorted softly. "Who knew we'd end up killin' em all?"

A soft chuckle and Alicia pulled the blanket closer around them. She took a moment and then sighed softly. "Do you know which one is the Milky Way?"

The smile on John's face lessened. "Can't see it from here… need a big-ass telescope." He thought for a second about the letter he'd sent to General O'Neill, and realized his apology would have even stronger meaning.

Alicia kept quiet for a moment and shifted her legs a bit. "…You think we'll ever make it back?"

Another moment of silence and John decided to be honest. "…Not anytime soon. It'd take Daedalus 2 years… and that's _with_ a ZPM…" He hardened his features, his muscles tensing as well. "…not much left for me there anyway."

John was a little surprised when Alicia's hand ran across his chest and gave him a small hug. "Hey…" he turned to look at her… and was surprised when her lips touched his gently.

It was a soft kiss, and John had to admit it did make him feel better. He'd been worried that something like this might happen all night… but he found that maybe he'd been overthinking it.

The kiss lasted a few moments, not pushing it, just a gentle peck of the lips. When it finally ended. John found that he didn't feel awkward… but he certainly felt like he had his hand in the cookie jar… especially because he had his on her hips. "_Leese…"_

"_Shh…" _Alicia brought her hand to his face and covered his lips. She smiled softly and whispered. "_You're special to me. I want you to know that."_

Admittedly, John couldn't recall ever hearing those words before. They were… _nice. _Taking her hand in his, John whispered back knowing what she was talking about. "…I'm just being a friend."

Alicia nodded and brought one of her legs around his. "_That's just it… you gave me a friend when that's what I needed… every other guy in this goddamned galaxy can't even talk without staring at my chest." _

John rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Leese…"

Before he could say more, Alicia pressed her lips against his again. This time she rolled her lips and gently sucked on his upper lip.

With a soft moan, John shifted his body to lean closer to hers. She was a _spectacular_ kisser and they'd only just started… his mind kept telling him to stop but the suddenly accelerating heartbeat told him to keep on truckin'!

They traded little kisses for a bit, slowly coming closer and closer into contact as they cuddled. John finally caught some sense of reason and pulled away, his forehead coming down to touch hers. "_Alicia… we shouldn't."_

Alicia closed her eyes and winced. "_Why?"_

John groaned softly and completely disengaged; he laid back on the sofa bed and winced. "You know why."

The Captain drew a hard breath in her nose, John couldn't tell if it was a sniffle or she was just cold. "I'm not in love with you… I-I just… I trust you."

Unsure of what to make of that, John sighed and rubbed his forehead. "…I trust you too." He'd had these kind of relationships before… in fact they were the only kind of relationship he'd had in a long time.

They were both silent now. John realized that he'd likely averted a really awkward future and just had to grit through the awkward of the now.

Alicia moved closer to him again and just sighed. John didn't know exactly what to do so he just instinctively cuddled her. He was grateful when she didn't lean over to kiss him again.

They remained like that for almost 10 minutes, both silently watching the night sky under the fleece blanket on top of the uncomfortable sofabed.

Finally John gulped and muttered softly. "I'll walk you to your quarters."

Instead of getting up though, Alicia held him down with surprising strength. "No… can't we just stay here?"

John bowed his head as he sighed. "Leese…"

"No no.. I.. _please…" _Alicia turned her face away and tugged on John to stay. "_I… I don't want to…"_

John buried her face into his chest before she could finish. He'd heard the same thing from Sam and he just didn't know what to do now.

She quieted, and John could almost feel the depression inside her.

He knew she'd left a lot behind on Earth. Exactly what he didn't know, but it must have been personal. So unlike him who left next to nothing, every day spent here was a day away from her family. "Alicia…"

She shifted a bit and looked at him as she lay on her side. "Yeah?"

"I'm only going to do this once…" John had decided, A compromise wasn't what he wanted… in fact he wanted a hell of a lot more. But he couldn't… he couldn't use Alicia like that. "…I know what you're feeling… and I know this helps… but I know where it goes and I don't want to do that to you."

Alicia blinked a few times and then turned away.

"It's up to you Alicia… you only get this once… that's all I can give you."

The captain remained quiet for a moment, obviously deep in thought. Alicia knew she didn't want to be alone… not after seeing how happy Dusty was. It wasn't a matter of jealousy. It was more a matter of loneliness and delayed shock.

The fact that she'd probably never see Earth again resonated loudly… about as loudly as Chuck had screamed 'American Woman'. "Yeah… yeah okay… just once."

John nodded and began to pull her up again. "Come on… your room or mine?"

Again Alicia pulled him back down. "No no no… I… I don't want you in my bed." She scoffed softly and wrapped her legs around his to keep him down. "If we do this in my bed I'm never going to get another night's sleep.. and if we do it in yours…"

It was something John painfully understood. He'd spent the last few months always thinking of someone else as he hopped into his bed… wishing they were there… but at the same time knowing that it was better not to think about it. "Okay… okay so… right here?"

Alicia nodded, and she snuggled up comfortably. "Yeah… yeah right here…"

No more words, and John fought to keep his mind.. and his hands from doing what they wanted. It was a losing battle though and he had to compromise again.

Alicia gave a small yelp of surprise as John pulled her into a very intimate snuggle, "Hey! I thought…"

John whispered in her ear as her head lay on his chest "Just cuz we're not gonna hula doesn't mean I don't wanna stay warm"

Snicking, Alicia shook her head idly and yawned. The morning would liking bring some teasing, but at least she'd get hre first good night's sleep in a few weeks.

* * *

**(Version 2, The Repainting the Walls Version (and the one IceMenace wanted :P )**

"Aw come on Leese… I's cold out there!"

Alicia snickered and dragged John along. "Don't worry… we'll be warm enough."

John chuckled thinking what she might mean. He mentally slapped himself for thinking such a ridiculous thing. They'd had fun, but this couldn't end that way. "Wha's so cool you had't drag m'halfway across the city?"

The door to the balcony opened, and John raised his eyebrows as he swayed from side to side. That Traveler Ale sure hit the spot. Alicia moved forward and held his hand. "Look…"

John looked, most obvious was the large blue ringed planet in the night horizon, the lack of much lights in Atlantis at night meant the entire night sky was visible. It was awe inspiringly beautiful.

It wasn't until Alicia pulled him forward that he noticed the Sofa on the balcony. A sofa that had a pull out bed and pillows and a blanket. "What the…? How'd this get'ere?"

Alicia snickered and hopped onto the sofa/bed and stretched out watching the night sky. "Traveler's put it. They love watching the sky…" She turned to John and giggled. "Cheesy I know… but I haven't watched the sky in a long time. Come on! It's getting cold!"

Seeing that he had no choice, John chuckled as he sat down and swung his legs onto the bed. He kept his head on the pillow and focused on the sky, and not the attractive woman next to him. "It really _is _beautiful isn't it?"

Alicia quickly cuddled up, laying her head on John's shoulder. They'd spent so much time training, going on patrols to Refugee villages or even just messing around like buddies that she felt very comfortable around him. "Yeah…" She sighed softly and lowered her voice. "When I was younger… I used to look up at the sky and wonder whether there was anything up there… I wanted to fly… just fly away."

John chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "…Me too…" he snorted softly. "Who knew we'd end up killin' em all?"

A soft chuckle and Alicia pulled the blanket over them. She took a moment and then sighed softly. "Do you know which dot is the Milky Way?"

The smile on John's face lessened. "Can't see it from here… need a big-ass telescope." He thought for a second about the letter he'd sent to General O'Neill, and realized his apology would have even stronger meaning.

Alicia kept quiet for a moment and moved her legs a bit. "…You think we'll ever make it back?"

Another moment of silence and John decided to be honest. "…Not anytime soon. It'd take Daedalus 2 years… and that's _with_ a ZPM…" He hardened his features, his muscles tensing as well. "…not much left for me there anyway."

John was a little surprised when Alicia's hand ran across his chest and gave him a small hug. "Hey…" he turned to look at her… and was surprised when her lips touched his gently.

It was a soft kiss, and John had to admit it did make him feel better. He'd been worried that something like this might happen all night… but he found that maybe he'd been overthinking it.

The kiss lasted a few moments, not pushing it, just a gentle peck of the lips. When it finally ended. John found that he didn't feel awkward… but he certainly felt like he had his hand in the cookie jar. "_Leese…"_

"_Shh…" _Alicia brought her hand to his face and covered his lips. She smiled softly and whispered. "_You're special to m… I just want you to know that."_

Admittedly, John couldn't recall ever hearing those words before. They were… _nice. _Taking her hand in his, John whispered back. "…I'm just being a friend."

Alicia nodded and brought one of her legs around his. "_That's just it… you gave me a friend when that's what I needed… every other guy in this goddamned galaxy can't even talk without staring at my chest." _

John rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Leese…"

Before he could say more, Alicia pressed her lips against his again. This time she rolled her lips and gently sucked on his upper lip.

With a soft moan, John shifted his body to lean closer to hers. She was a _spectacular_ kisser and they'd only just started… his mind kept telling him to stop but the suddenly accelerating heartbeat told him to keep on truckin'!

They traded little kisses for a bit, slowly coming closer and closer into contact as they cuddled. John finally caught some sense of reason and pulled away, his forehead coming down to touch hers. "_Alicia… we shouldn't."_

Alicia closed her eyes and winced. "_Why?"_

John groaned softly and completely disengaged; he laid back on the sofa bed and winced. "You know why."

The Captain drew a hard breath in her nose, John couldn't tell if it was a sniffle or she was just cold. "I'm not in love with you… I-I just… I trust you."

Unsure of what to make of that, John sighed and rubbed his forehead. "…I trust you too." He'd had these kind of relationships before… in fact they were the only kind of relationship he'd had in a long time.

They were both silent now. John realized that he'd likely averted a really awkward future and just had to grit through the awkward of the now.

Silently, he sat up on the sofa/bed and motioned to her with his head. "Come on… I'll walk you to your quarters."

Wordlessly, Alicia got up as well and put an arm around him. "You're right… I shouldn't have…"

John shushed her quiet and kept on walking forward. He felt her lay her head on his shoulder again and cursed that he enjoyed it.

Truthfully… he wanted to. After the whole thing with Sam, John had become wooden, he'd lost a certain spark that he knew made him who he was.

He didn't love Alicia… he just didn't know her well enough and she didn't know even a fraction of what he was… But he trusted her. And that was more than could be said for the majority of the universe.

They made it to her quarters relatively quickly, almost too quickly for John's liking. She straightened her neck and turned to him, her hands still on his shoulders.

John realized that despite everything going on in his life, he found that he could trust Alicia. With that knowledge, he opened his posture and gently guided her into his arms.

Alicia accepted the hug readily, and she returned it full force. Both were still mildly buzzed, but perfectly coherent.

So it surprised her when he didn't let go when she tried to pull away. "_John?"_

John remained silent for another moment, still holding him in his arms. Alicia wasn't sure what was happening, but she kept her composure. When he began to whisper, she closed her eyes and bit her lips. "_Would… would this go anywhere?"_

She didn't know what he meant, but Alicia knew if she was dishonest, it would drive a wedge between their friendship. She valued that more than anything and gulped before replying. "…no. I… I'm not.."

Before she could finish, John's lips found hers and she became lost in his embrace.

No more words, and their hands stretched out and pulled each other closer. John spun around slightly and pinned her to the wall, his tongue now finding hers and softly brushing it.

Alicia managed to keep enough coherence to use one hand to slap at the wall next to her, finally after several failed attempts, hitting the door release. It recognized her bio-signature and opened quickly, the two of them almost falling in.

Their shirts were gone before the doors could close, and John buried his face into her neck drawing a loud gasp. She dug her fingers into his back and pressed him closer to her.

It happened fast, and before she knew it he'd lifted her up onto the desk to get a better angle for her now bare shoulders. She yelped as she felt a pen on the desk stab at her butt and giggled as John laughed as well. He set her down gently after sweeping the desk clear and seemed to stop for a moment. He quickly muttered. "This doesn't change anything… you're still my subordinate."

Alicia knew that coming in, but it helped to alleviate all those doubts just to say it. She was mildly delirious as John's tongue danced down her neck to her shoulder. "… Yes, sir…. Whatever you say, sir…"

John snorted and chuckled, his chest heaving from more than just mirth. Alicia heard the random crap she kept on the desk fall to the ground and tried to look for a light switch. It was to no avail though and she'd have to clean up the mess later.

She decided to take the lead and rocked her body back, then vaulted it onto John using her thighs to catch onto his midsection. She wasn't expecting him to trip over her little teddy bear and fall back onto the floor.

They landed hard, but instead of groaning in pain, John just started laughing and pulled her closer to him for another full mouth kiss. Rolling around on the floor led to some odd sounds including a rubber ducky's squeak that drove them into fits of giggles.

Alicia felt her heart pounding, and her lungs at full power. She ran her hands down John's chest and came back with his shirt tugging upwards.

John relented and wiggled out of his t-shirt. Even in the dark, Alicia had to admire his well-formed Pecs.

She was a little surprised when John suddenly got up and picked her up. But with her thighs still holding onto his waist, she had more than just a professional regard for his upper body strength.

Instead of using his hands, John curled his neck down and shoved it underneath her tank top. Alicia was surprised at how he used his teeth to push her bra up and take a rather sensitive area in his mouth.

She whimpered suddenly and trembled. Her coherence was so disoriented that she hardly noticed as John dropped them both onto the bed.

Forget a mess, when this was all over she'd probably have to repaint the walls.

* * *

**A/N:** _that's it! No more special features! :p next time I update it'll be the first half of Episode 12, "Outpost Zeta Twelve." Don't expect it for awhile though.  
_

_And just a note, the song "Immaculate Crucifixion" by "Juno Reactor" is a DANGEROUSLY delicious song :D It's my theme song for the entirety of Universal Sin and Dark Frontier :D_

_Here's a teaser like I always give._

**Episode 12 Outpost Zeta Twelve**

--------------

_180 days in Hoag's Object_.

**--------------**

**Alicia Vega:** Hundreds of thousands of dollars and god knows how much time spent turning me into a pilot and killing machine, and I'd give it all up for a nice big can of raid.

**Dan Drake:** Aw, I hated that movie.

**Dusty Mehra:** What movie?

**Reyna Arius:** Lost in Space

**Rafaela Esposito;** How the _hell_ did you know?

**Reyna Arius:** Well if you'd come to movie night more often you'd know!


	22. Outpost Zeta Twelve First Third

**Episode 12 - Outpost Zeta Twelve (1/3)  
**

* * *

**A/N: **_Welcome to the long awaited return of "Stargate Dark Frontier" :P Posting it now as i'm going to be busy tomorrow anyways. 3 parts to this episode for easy reading :D  
_

_Expect regular releases of the rest of season 1 and the premiere of Season 2 on a weekly basis (might take a few days longer than a week if something happens, but should be fairly regular.)_

_This Episode is longish as there's a lot going on. The format has changed a little as well. Unless otherwise specified, The "A" story will be the main plot of the episode, while the "B" story will be a character focus._

_For those with vivid imaginations, here's an "Actor" list of the OC's that will be recurring._

_**Dan Drake**__ would be played by __**Jamie Bamber**__ (Apollo/Lee Adama from "nBSG")_

_**Reyna Arius**__ would be played by __**Stephanie Jacobsen**__ (Kendra Shaw from "nBSG"'s "Razor" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles")_

_**Nevas**__ would be played by __**Jeff Conaway**__ (Zack Allan from "Babylon 5")_

_**Aulus Centaurus **__would be played by __**Malcolm McDowell**__ (Waaay too many movies he's been in.)_

_**Aquilina Centaurus **__would be played by __**Tracy Scoggins**__ (Elizabeth Lochley from "Babylon 5")_

_**Menalus Aquinus **__would be played by __**Sir Nigel Hawthorne **__(Humphrey Appleby from "Yes,(Prime) Minister")_

_More to come, but those are the primary OC's._

_Many Many thanks to __**Neela, **__and __**TheIceMenace **__for their respective betas :D_

--------------

_180 days in Hoag's Object._

--------------

**Alicia Vega:** Hundreds of thousands of dollars and god knows how much time spent turning me into a pilot and killing machine, and I'd give it all up for a nice big can of raid.

**Dan Drake:** Aw, I hated that movie.

**Dusty Mehra:** What movie?

**Reyna Arius:** Lost in Space

**Rafaela Esposito;** How the _hell_ did you know?

**Reyna Arius:** Well if you'd come to movie night more often you'd know!

* * *

Dusty watched from overhead near the conference room with a particle magnum strapped to her belt. Wearing these Traveler clothes could sometimes get annoying, but overall she liked how it made her look meaner. The sexy was just a sidenote.

The Olim delegation, four of them in total including Aul-ass and Men-al-ass or whatever their names were, now gave Sam and Sheppard nods of approval, while simply shaking Larrin and Daniel's hands.

The bigotry was obvious and Dusty knew those looks first hand. Racism had always been a bitch, and Dusty had learned to be a bigger one. Seeing these Olim give all those subtle little nuances apart from their blatant disregard for anyone without the ATA gene made her mad.

If it took nearly dying defending them to respect a non-ancient gene person, Dusty would prefer to just continue arguing.

The wormhole kawooshed open, and only Aulus turned to give a graceful wave goodbye. Dusty couldn't help but notice that his expression was one of slight confusion, but possible hope. She still didn't trust any of them, but at least there was hope.

A moment passed after they left, and Dusty remained watching from her sharpshooter perch. Sam bowed her head and wobbled a bit in place even with her crutch. John's posture moved to help, but he didn't actually do anything.

Dusty had noticed a _long_ time ago the way those two treated each other. John may have been the real warrior between them, but Sam had the leadership. It was a strange symbiosis, she realized. Given the choice, she would likely follow Sheppard more than she would follow Carter simply because Sheppard seemed… more human almost. It contrasted everything the Olim said about the ATA gene.

The four of them on the Gate Room floor huddled together for a moment and, after a minute had passed, Dusty's radio chimed. _"Vega, Drake, Mehra and Esposito to the conference room in 30 minutes. That's Major Vega, Lieutenant Drake, Sergeant Mehra, and Doctor Esposito to the Conference Room in 30 minutes."_

Sam's voice was always very friendly. She'd only once heard it raised in anger and it wasn't pretty. Though the way Sheppard had handled her scream impressed her.

Quietly, Dusty moved off, just another cog in the machine as far as she was concerned.

* * *

"Whaddya think they want _us _for?"

Alicia shrugged; she was drinking water out of a canteen and gulping it down as she said. "Dunno. First time I hear about it."

To her side, Rafaela groaned as she walked with a mug of what smelled like very strong coffee. "I was asleep when Nevas started kicking my door. Remind me not to shut the door chime off when I'm trying to get some sleep."

Dusty chuckled and stretched her arms. She would have been in the gym now if not for the meeting. "Maybe we're all getting promotions. Don't you think so, _Colonel?"_

Alicia laughed back and said. "Yeah, Sure thing _Lieutenant._"

Rafaela groaned again and scratched her temple. "What kind of promotion would_ I_ get?"

Dusty made a pensive noise and rubbed her chin. "Hmm… good question."

The conversation ended as the three ladies neared the conference room. The multiple swinging doors were open and inside, the entire command staff, along with Carson and Radek, was seated.

As they entered, greetings were exchanged and seats were filled. Drake was already inside with a cup of steaming T-Coffee. Dusty mused at how the man was slowly becoming more Traveler every day.

As she looked to the command staff in front of her, she noticed that Sam had changed. No…rather she was wearing a heavier leather jacket that looked a little too big. Must have just grabbed whatever was lying around.

"Alright, thank you for being prompt. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so we'll get your aspect in this out of the way quickly."

Dusty couldn't help but notice the way Sam said _your_ as in they were different. She kept quiet though and simply nodded as she'd been trained to do. She _was_ just a lowly Sergeant compared to the Majors and Colonels in the room.

"As you all know, we've begun long term discussions and negotiations with the Olim." Sam began. "While there are still many things to go over, we need to focus on our organizational ranking and chains of command on this base."

Dusty screwed her face. This was going to be one of _those_ meetings. "Yes, Ma'am."

Sam smiled and after a moment's pause, snickered to herself. She still seemed a little tired and Dusty couldn't help but notice the way she leaned on the table. "I'm not going to sugar coat this Ser…" Sam stopped herself then smiled sadly. "…_Dusty…_ I know that technically none of you have to follow my orders anymore since we _are _all rogues." Sam turned to John for just a moment, his face hardened in revelation. "That being said, I'm very proud of you all. You've demonstrated courage under fire, and even more, passion in your beliefs."

Alicia straightened and nodded. "It's our pleasure, Ma'am. We all swore it and I don't think we're going to break that oath on a whim."

Now John spoke, his voice oddly eloquent as if he'd rehearsed this. "And we appreciate that, which is why we want you to be the first to know."

Sam nodded and blew a hard sigh. "I'm stepping down as military head of this base. I'll still officially hold my rank, but my position on Atlantis will be more along the lines of a Military Governor rather than base commander." She turned to John. "John will resume his role as Military Commander. Anything to do with the defense of this base or the military power we hold will go through him." Sam then turned back to the group. "In fact there are several changes we're going to implement, not the least of which is the four of you."

Dusty raised her eyebrows. She then realized that between the four of them, they actually made a…

John nodded; he'd obviously guessed what they were all thinking. "That's right, you're going to be our primary off-world team." He turned to Larrin. "We've discussed it…"

Larrin rolled her eyes and shook her head idly with a sarcastic smile. "More like you forced me, but I didn't mind,"

Dusty stifled the snort in the bottom of her throat. Larrin could say so much with only a single phrase it was ridiculous. To her surprise though, John simply smiled in retort. "See? We're all happy." He turned back to the group. "…The Travelers whom I, Alicia and Laura have been training are going to be under our command structure. They're all going to be given basic ranks in either the enlisted or NCO structure, mostly Airman…"

Larrin added gleefully. "…or woman! Almost half of the recruits are women!"

Dusty noticed quite a few comical eyerolls, but didn't say anything.

John continued without missing a beat. "… and we'll be promoting them as we see fit… and that includes y'all as well."

Now Dusty's attention was grabbed. Promotion!?

Sam nodded again, guessing what was going through their minds. "Yes. In order for you to be our front-line team, we're giving you Lieutenant, and you Sergeant, field promotions to Captain and Lieutenant bringing you both up to officer level. That way, when the Travelers who've been in training move up, they'll have officers whom can guide them."

Dusty was elated, yet at the same time she had to know. "Guide, Ma'am?"

Larrin turned to Sam and nodded. Sam blew a soft sigh, shivered a little and then replied. "That's right, Dusty. Our short-term goal is to form off-world teams with specialties like we had before. Yours is our reconnaissance team."

Finally speaking up, Rafaela squeaked out her answer. "Umm… not to sound negative, but why me? I'm sure there must be someone with more off-world experience…"

Daniel took this question. He smiled warmly and leaned forward. "Ella, it's okay, none of us had any experience when we first stepped through that 'gate and we had things a lot rougher than we've had it here." It might have sounded like a condescending reply, but Daniel's tone and sincerity kicked that out of the question. "I know you're nervous, and if you really don't want to go that's okay. But we feel you each offer something to the team that will contribute to its success."

John leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "If you're wondering, Leese is team leader and pilot in case you need a Jumper, Drake's demo and engineering…"

Drake clicked his tongue twice and held a thumb out. "Boom-boom!"

John chuckled silently in his chest and continued. "Dusty, don't take this the wrong way but you've got big guns."

Dusty snorted openly now. This was by far the most ridiculous serious meeting she'd ever been involved in. "I'm _honored_ you noticed."

The entire table laughed a bit, and then Radek spoke up of all people. "Rafaela… I know you're not very engrossed in the idea of being part of an off-world team, but there's no one here I would rather trust with a scientific problem out in the field. You've proven yourself time and time again since I've known you and I think it would be an honest loss for you to decline."

Rafaela groaned softly in her throat, looked around and saw everyone was looking at her with caring expectation. "Peer pressure isn't nice you know!"

Sam snickered and shook her head. "If you genuinely aren't thrilled with the idea you don't have to. The last thing I want is for you to feel forced."

Everyone around her nodded, and after a few moments of consideration, Rafaela nodded. "Well… alright… I guess it wouldn't hurt too much to try."

John turned to everyone around him and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Notice how she said 'too much'? She's smart."

Rafaela laughed at the ribbing. Truth be told, she was terrified but for the moment it was all okay.

Sam then took the reins back and continued. "There's a lot more we need to discuss, but it'll all be coming out as we work it through. The other large changes we'll have still need to be worked out, but I can announce to you that Chuck is going to be our…" Sam sighed softly as if regretting her choice of words. "…head of…_Human Resources."_

John and Daniel began to chuckle softly, though John was the one to say it. "Just call him Catbert, he'll love it."

Seeing that Sam was slowly getting annoyed and Larrin didn't get it, Daniel interjected. "That is to say… Chuck will be handling department rotation and scheduling. Right now we're all pretty much just getting up and doing whatever comes to mind or needs to get done, but we need order. So Chuck is going to begin to organize both the Travelers that are going to be under…" Daniel made air quotes. "…_our command…_ as well as any projects Larrin has in mind for her people."

Larrin smiled and nodded pedantically. "Chucky's gonna have his hands full. But it's a good idea and there's more." She turned to Sam to continue.

Sam nodded and obliged. "As you know, Captain Cadman is currently too injured to handle anything more than light duties. Carson has given her a full recovery diagnosis but it'll take quite awhile. So she's being reassigned from any off-world duties to the dual task of Quartermaster, and instructor for any academic aspects we're going to be training people on."

Dusty nodded idly in agreement. It was a good idea, especially knowing that Laura was still having trouble getting up flights of stairs. She was improving though, and hearing that she'd make a full recovery was heartening.

Overall this meeting was sounding all good. All of these were aspects that would affect Dusty personally and she knew it would take awhile to hear the rest. Carson had hardly said a word, as did Radek, but she knew they had to be here for a reason.

John decided to give them the reason. "That's basically all we have for you at the moment. We do have a mission for you once you're ready." He turned to Sam, who gave him a pointed stare and nod. "Oh, right. Two more things. One…" he turned to Larrin who reached under the table and grabbed something.

Larrin set it down on the table and it became clear it was clothing… odd looking, but still clothing. She explained. "We figure if we're going to be dealing with the Olim, we should have uniforms. So I had my people come up with something nice and flashy." She held it out, and the new teammates did slight double takes.

It was similar to USAF Standard Black BDUs, but with long strips of brown leather along the sleeves and the middle where it was buttoned up, and a lower cut neckline. It was layered as well, like a jacket with many flaps and pockets. Overall it looked like a Traveler version of a hybrid between cargo pants and BDUs.

Stitched onto the right chest of the uniform was a silvery insignia, a Traveler Generational Ship hovering above Atlantis.

Dusty looked at the suit in awe, she knew she'd look sexy, tough, and downright impressive in it. "Nice! When do we get to try them on?"

Sam laughed at Dusty's enthusiasm, and motioned to the suddenly opening doors of the conference room. "Once you say hi to the last member of your team."

The four Lanteans turned and smiled. Reyna had already changed into the uniform and posed half sensually. "It's a little tight around the bosom."

Dusty heard two snorts and three groans; she knew precisely who had done what behind and beside her.

* * *

"So… you're leaving?" Dusty made careful note to keep her voice serious but not emotional; this man had taught her that emotional decisions led to bad places.

"Yep."

Pursing her lips, Dusty resisted rubbing her hands or giving any other sign of distress. "Just Atlantis?"

"Gonna live with Teyla. Wants me to train her people… Kids need to know how to defend themselves."

It was a cop out, but a decent one. Dusty couldn't blame him for what was happening. "Ronon… are you leaving because…" She let the question hang. It was hard even now to admit that she'd come to respect Ronon quite a lot more than just a comrade.

Ronon turned from his view of the seascape and stared straight at her. After first encountering the Olim on the refugee planet, he'd asked her a simple question and she'd given him a complex answer. Until the day she could definitively reply one way or the other, Ronon knew being here would only frustrate and slow him down. "No." He leaned in a little. "At least not entirely."

Dusty turned away from Ronon and concentrated on the towers in the distance. Atlantis was so large, but at the same time relatively small for a city. The two-kilometer radius allowed her a great and beautiful scenery no matter what the day looked like. "Okay." She said it with a simple tone. Just accepting that this was over for now. "I hope everything turns out well for you, Ronon."

Feeling his hand on her shoulder, Dusty groaned softly with emotion. Ronon kept his voice in check as well. "Goodbye, Duvali."

She winced at the name. It had been a very long time and he was the only one who knew the story behind it. He let go and she was left seemingly alone on the balcony.

A few moments passed alone, with only her thoughts to assuage her. But then another voice broke her concentration. "Hey _prašnjav_… you okay?"

Dusty smirked, Drake had nicknames for everybody in Serbian, he'd told her _prašnjav_ meant Dusty but she had her doubts. She didn't worry though, it was said with care. "I'm fine, Slob." She snickered at her own nickname for the Serbian. Only recently had she found out his real name, well…before he changed it.

Drake stood beside her and flicked something out into the air. Dusty focused on it and noticed it was a paper airplane. It was oddly humbling to see such a small instrument hover for a few moments before gaining lift and flying up into the windy sky.

Neither said anything as they watched the airplane. When it finally left even her sight, Drake mused. "Carter says the towers create a pocket of air. That thing'll keep circling until it crashes into something or lands." Drake was silent for a moment before speaking in a more hushed tone. "Gotta go get ."

Dusty groaned softly in reply.

Drake turned around and leaned his back on the railing. "I hear Ronon's leaving."

Careful with her words, Dusty treated it like any other reassignment. "He's going to the mainland. Says he'll help Teyla for awhile."

The lieutenant nodded idly, ostensibly deciding whether or not to continue his line of questioning.

Dusty didn't meet his eyes. Drake seemed like a very complicated person but deep down she knew he cared. She only wished he didn't say what he looked like he was about to. "Wanna grab a bite?"

Closing her eyes and thanking the gods, Dusty nodded. "Sure, long as you're buying."

Drake chuckled and put his arm casually around Dusty's shoulders. "For you? I'll go halfsies."

No matter what, Dusty would never question Drake's ability to make women laugh.

* * *

"Carson's already going to kill me, so you can only imagine what he's going to do to you."

Sam smirked at John's veiled threat. "Bring him on. I'll use my feminine wiles to get better treatment."

John chuckled as he stood at the balcony. "You have feminine wiles?"

Sam elbowed him, gritting through the pain in her leg to defend herself from the tease. John caught her attack and steadied her as they play fought. He rubbed her shoulders as she gave up and laughed gently.

This was their office away from their offices and many important discussions were had here. "I'm just saying, I know you wanted to stand for the Olim and I respect that. But they're gone and you've got nothing to prove to anyone here."

Sam sighed and pulled John's jacket around her a little more. "I know.. It's just…" she groaned irritably. "I'm _not_ getting pushed around in a wheelchair like some…"

John's hand came down on her shoulder and squeezed. "It's either that or I carry you. But you're not walking anymore today and that's final."

Sam rolled her eyes and stared back at John pointedly. "Is that an order?"

John smiled and shrugged. "If you won't take it from me then Carson will be more than glad to."

Deflated, but not defeated, Sam nodded gently. "How about I just stay in my office? God knows I've got plenty to organize with Chuck and Laura. And we've still got to give Vega's team their mission."

John screwed his face for a second and then nodded. "Alright. But don't let me catch you walking anymore or else I really _will_ carry you back to your quarters and I know Daniel'll give me a hand keeping you in there."

Snickering softly, Sam nodded idly. "Alright, alright…" She grew more serious and then looked John in the face. "There's something else… something I wanted to talk to you about."

John remained perfectly composed. They'd gotten through some very rough patches and their friendship had survived; this couldn't be anything that serious. "Shoot."

"It's about… Rodney."

John felt a strange feeling. For a fleeting moment, he felt anger, but it quickly calmed into a somber relention. "…Yeah?"

Sam had decided to wait to tell him, and now seemed like the best time. "It's almost been a year, John… Since Asuras." John simply nodded. Sam was worried it'd affect John badly, but it seemed he'd gotten over his depression. "Well…you know what happened to Rodney. You know _exactly _what happened." Sam took a deep breath, inadvertently pausing for effect. "I want to hold a ceremony. A lot of people died that day and I think it's fitting."

John considered it for a fraction of a second. "Agreed… but what does that have to do with Rodney?"

Biting her lower lip, Sam finally took the plunge. "Rodney… came with us. He… helped me when I was trapped in that Olim basement."

_That_ got John's attention.

* * *

Larrin seemed like a half decent instructor. Nowhere near her own DIs from OCS, but Dusty could tell Larrin was a natural leader… in wartime. "Alright, those new uniforms have built in holsters for different weapons." Larrin herself wore a rather fitting uniform of her own and demonstrated where everything went. "Standard equipment is similar to your Tac vests, except you've got a lot more room for gear now and it shouldn't be as restricting for your arms."

Dusty tried it out. She was carrying a standard 50 pound load of weapons and materials, a little heavy for a recon team, but overall she hardly felt it. "Nice. The fabric stretches nicely."

To her side, Alicia was trying her own uniform out. "Rey's right, my boobs are a little cramped."

Dusty snorted, and appreciated that Drake was off getting changed. He'd no doubt have gotten that puppy dog look he got whenever someone mentioned female anatomy. "I dunno, I'm comfy."

Larrin rolled her eyes and motioned with her head. "Give it time Vega, it feels tight because these things will stretch to fit you properly."

Letting out a yelp of frustration, Rafaela struggled to get her left combat boot on. "I hope so! This feels like I'm wearing a corset!"

To their slight surprise, Drake's obviously male voice chimed in as he walked through the door. "Corset? What the _hell's_ going on?"

Dusty turned and admired how the form fitting uniform actually managed to show off Drake's upper body muscles. He wasn't massive, but he was lean and toned. Were she actually attracted to him beyond a physical sense…?

But then again Ronon had spoiled her. Larrin screwed her face and shook her head idly. "Corset? What the hell is that?"

Reyna of all people motioned with her head to Larrin. "It's this weird clothing they use to compress the torso. We used it medically a long time ago but the Earthers used it to uhh…" She chuckled and looked at the others around her. "… _look more appealing."_

Larrin raised her eyebrows in shock. "Are you serious? That's crazy!"

Dusty on the other hand was more impressed that Reyna even _knew_ what a corset was. "And how do _you_ know that?"

Reyna shrugged as if it were an everyday thing. "Daniel let me borrow a book he has called Oxford's Complete Unabridged Dictionary. It's really interesting how you've actually comprised an entire book on the idea of categorizing and explaining the words you use."

Dusty blinked a few times in complete shock, but it was Drake who said what they were all thinking. "You read the _dictionary!?"_

Reyna nodded gingerly. "Well when we came to this galaxy I figured I'd be getting to know you people. The Dictionary was like a gift from the ancestors really, because half the time I couldn't understand you people,"

None of the Lanteans could really comment on that. It was just _too_ random.

* * *

"Nice to see you're all dressed up." John smirked; Sam rolled her eyes as she sat at her desk. "Ready for your first mission?"

Alicia looked to her team and seeing them nervous, but ready, and looking _sexy as HELL, _she nodded. "Ready as we'll ever be."

Sam smiled and rubbed her hands together. "Good. Now part of our negotiations with the Olim included them giving us a record of Ancient Outposts they know about. They've agreed to share the locations with us as long as we share the data we recover. Despite their technology, Crystal Data Storage isn't something they've mastered."

John nodded and clicked a remote to the flat screen behind him. "Here's Outpost Zeta Twelve."

Sam winced and groaned softly. "_John_…"

Snickering at his wording, John explained. "Well not really. But the name the Olim gave us is way too tongue twister so I renamed it. It's on a planet about 300 light years from here." He clicked the remote again and a diagram of an outpost in a heavily wooded area came into view. "These are the latest recon pics the Olim took. That was about two hundred years ago."

The team looked a little surprised, Drake was the first to speak. "They didn't try to inhabit it?"

Sam shook her head. "They couldn't understand it. They also say that the area around the outpost is very densely packed, and it wasn't worth it to clear cut to set up their own settlement." Sam leaned forward and sighed. "Just for your information, the Olim have a _very _flexible and mobile base of operations. The colony which we now know was an actual military outpost was actually quite built-in. It's complicated, but the Olim infrastructure is literally built around ships that double as buildings. They can conceivably move their entire civilization if they had to."

John nodded and cracked his jaw. "With the Shade around it's not surprising."

Sam continued. "It's unlikely you'll find either Shade or Olim on that planet, but I've learned to always be cautious. Take a light load but don't hesitate to pick up an AT-4 and some C4 on your way out. Your mission is to explore the outpost and recover any data crystals or storage devices you can; anything that can tell us about Ancient activities in this galaxy."

Rafaela clicked her tongue and turned to Alicia. "I'm going to have to get some tools from my lab. Shouldn't be too much though."

John clapped his hands together and nodded. "Alright! So it's settled. There'll be a Traveler ship not too far away, so if you need support for whatever reason it shouldn't be a problem." Sam grunted irritably and John added. "Not that we're expecting a problem…" he turned back to Sam and in a slightly mocking yet playful tone mimicked. "We're just being cautious."

Sam smiled deviously, John may have been intending to jab at her, but she simply brushed it off. "That's it from us. Any questions?"

Dusty spoke up, since she was a Lieutenant now it felt right to add to discussions. "Have we sent a probe through yet?"

Sam nodded and said. "Sent it hours ago. The planet's still there and from reports, _very_ habitable which is a nice change of pace from most planets we've seen."

Appeased, the team looked to each other and nodded in agreement. Alicia turned and gave a saluting posture. "We'll set out as soon as we're properly equipped. Anything else?"

John smirked deviously and quipped. "Shoot first, ask _us_ questions later."

Sam turned a disapproving look to John, but didn't say anything directed to him. "As sad as I am to say it, I have to agree. According to the Olim, it's highly unlikely you'll find anything friendly out there. Don't hesitate if you're threatened by anything, including animals." Sam shivered slightly. "One of the Pegasus refugees got attacked by a beaver like animal on the mainland and we all remember the Silicon/Carbon hybrid we brought back."

Dusty and Drake mused; they _definitely_ remembered that.

With a few salutes, the team exited the office and moved out. Sam sighed dejectedly and wrapped her arms around her torso. "Reminds me of SG-1… back when we first started going through the gate. All ready and willing to go out into the unknown."

John reached out and rubbed Sam's shoulder. Her core body temperature still wasn't up to normal levels and it sucked to see her all bundled up even in room temperature. "Aw, don't worry. They'll be fine."

Sam rolled her eyes and looked at John pointedly. "Don't try and cheer me up, I hate it when people try and cheer me up."

John furrowed his brow and looked at Sam like she was insane. "Uhh. Okay. Why?"

Sam fought the smirk, she actually _did_ like getting cheered up, but this situation was a little more depressing than she preferred. "It's depressing to know I look like I _need_ to be cheered up."

John shrugged and got up to exit the room. "Well then, we're all going to die slow horrible deaths involving pine needles."

Now it was Sam who was confused. "Pine needles?"

John nodded and the edge of his lips went up. "Yeah, you know? Ever have to fish them out of your under…"

Sam shirked her shoulders at the unfinished phrase and yelped. "_At-tut-tut!" _She held her hand up, stopping John. "That's _quite _alright… I feel better. You can stop now."

Chuckling, John motioned with his head. "I'll be in my office. Gotta work out the final grades for the Travelers." His smile became slightly more serious. "I'll know if you get up."

Sam nodded; now she was being serious as well. "I'll be careful. Still freezing so I might actually just get Daniel to help me get lunch."

Unaffected, John nodded. "Good. I'll swing by later."

"Bye, John."

"Bye, Sam."

With that, John left Sam's office.

* * *

_**A/N: **Two more parts to this. Looking at a new part every 3-4 days :) Thanks for reading and if you'd like ot keep up to the story, make sure to "Story Alert". _


	23. Outpost Zeta Twelve Second Third

A/N: Posting this a little early, as **Choo1701** AKA **Tom** decided to make my day today. Will not say how, but you'll potentially see it soon enough :D

* * *

Stepping through the wormhole, Dusty noticed immediately the air was _much_ fresher on this planet. In fact, it was almost sweet smelling. "Mmm… I think I just found my vacation spot."

Alicia gave her a bland stare that ended with a small snicker. "Let's see if the neighbors are any good first."

Rafaela passed through the wormhole next, and she shivered and rubbed her hands. Reyna was right behind her with Drake covering the rear. _"Brrr_! That's _soo_ weird."

Reyna hitched up her pack and looked to Rafaela curiously. "Haven't you used the rings before?"

Nodding around and checking for all her limbs, Rafaela said. "Only two or three times. I always took the _Daedalus_ back." She shuddered. "There's something about all my atoms being converted into energy and reproduced on the other end that's just disturbing. Chuck calls it _'McCoy_' syndrome."

Drake groaned softly and took his position to the left. "Is there a Sci-fi show he _doesn't_ know?"

Alicia decided that that was enough banter, and looking around to a surprisingly mild jungle area around her, figured it was time to get to work. "He spends all day on his ass in front of a screen. I'm surprised he isn't eating ramen noodles." She smiled at her team and motioned with her head. "Let's move. It's about a kilometer to the outpost."

The team quickly fell into formation. Alicia led the pack with Reyna beside her, Dusty kept to the center with Rafaela hanging close by, and Drake took the rear with their heavier equipment.

The newly ordained Captain couldn't help but notice that being the only guy on the team; he'd basically been shafted into being a pack mule. As he looked around though, he couldn't find the heart to complain.

The AT-4 on his back seemed lighter than usual. Maybe it was the close fit of the inner layer of his new uniform, but he noticed that everyone moved at a brisk pace.

Dusty blew a bubble of her now week old gum and popped it loudly. It imploded back onto her nose and she saw Rafaela snorting at the odd sight.

Alicia smiled too even though she wanted to tell Dusty to stay quiet. The jungle ahead was quite dense, and despite having a few narrow paths, Alicia preferred to cut her way through just to avoid any potential roadblocks. "Machetes."

Part of the new uniform included holsters for a particle magnum, a longer one for a machete, and a double strap on the back to hold a rifle. The P90s were now almost pointless seeing how both the Olim and the Shade were highly resistant to them. Still, Rafaela and Reyna both held one in their arms as they hadn't had proper training on the larger caliber FN-SCAR-H, the other primary ground weapon still left to Atlantis. The P90 was pretty much the only weapon that could give them decent defense, and still be easy to control.

Alicia kept on point and hacked her way through the thick underbrush, the skintight layer beneath the looser layer on top of her uniform wicked the sweat away quickly and she hardly noticed any heat. "Anyone else feel like they're wearing Coolmax?" She noted that they've moved a long distance very quickly; it wouldn't be long before they reached the outpost.

Dusty nodded as she chopped down what looked like a giant banana leaf that hung in her way. "Guess they really went all out. Wish I had these before."

Drake picked at his uniform and aired it out as he kept an eye on their surroundings. "Mine's a little sticky. Good thing I still have deodorant."

Rafaela laughed, and pulled out a small PDA with their mission instructions on it. "According to the map, we're about 50 meters from the outpost. I've got some erratic lifesigns around us as well."

Reyna took in a few deep breaths, and even looked around a bit as she looked down at the soil. "Well… I can tell it's not humanoid. The foliage is too dense for anything bigger than a mandogan."

Dusty turned with a strange look. "A _what?_"

Wincing with realization, Reyna grunted softly. "Oh! Sorry. Carson showed me something like it… God what'd he call it?"

Alicia wasn't paying too much attention. Instead, she now saw a big fruit in front of her dangling from a tree. It looked shockingly like a pineapple.

Reyna finally remembered as Alicia reached for the fruit. "Oh, I remember now. He called it a Kool-aid bear."

None of the earthborn people could help it, and Dusty was the first to reply once they'd controlled their giggles. "_Kool-aid bear!?_ What's it made out of? Sugar!?"

Reyna started giggling too, and she shrugged her shoulders as she replied. "I guess I'm saying it wrong? Hahaha!"

The entire group was laughing, and slowly Alicia began to notice that she was ever so slightly giddy. The Alien Pineapple in her hand felt light, and that's when she noticed a good chunk of it was missing. "_Ack!"_

She dropped the fruit, and it became clear that something had taken a rather large bite out of it. Despite the initial humor in the moment, everyone got to attention with weapons raised. Quickly, the soldiers pulled Reyna and Esposito into a covered position and circled them.

Alicia breathed heavily and felt lightheaded. It could just be the shock, but she was worried for a moment.

Everyone had suddenly been put on edge, and finally Drake asked. "Okay… what are we shooting at?"

Shaking her head, Alicia blinked hard and continued breathing deeply. "Uhh… probably a Kool-aid bear." She scoffed in a laugh as she used her foot to turn the pineapple over. "Just a little creeped out that's all. Something took a big bite outta this thing."

Drake moved forward and inspected it. His brow scrunched together. "That's a pretty big bite… maybe it is the _Kool-aid_ bear."

Reyna groaned and holstered her particle magnum. "How about you stop laughing at me and tell me what it's _supposed_ to be?" Despite being frustrated, she still snickered at the thought.

Something was wrong, but the outpost was just ahead and Alicia decided it could wait till they were inside. "Come on… let's get in there and we can talk about _koala_ bears all we want."

Reyna mused happily, now knowing what she was originally trying to say. The others still chuckled, and despite the odd sensation of giddiness, none questioned the order to move into the outpost.

* * *

John had just finished grading each of the Traveler's situational awareness tests. Most were prone to shoot first and ask questions later, but given more training, he was pretty sure the impulsiveness would drop.

So when Larrin entered his office and quickly shut the blinds, John raised an eyebrow. "Uhh.. Okay. If you want privacy, over ninety percent of the city is unoccupied."

Larrin rolled her eyes and locked the door. Now John was a little more than surprised. "Just uhh… come here."

Deciding to play along since he'd been having way too much crap happening to him anyway, John sighed as he pushed out of his chair and stood in front of Larrin defiantly. "Yes? Did you need something?"

Staring back just as defiantly, Larrin brought a hand up to John's temple and ran her fingers through his hair above John's left ear. "You know… my grandmother warned me about guys with hair like yours."

Figuring she was just teasing him some more as there wasn't much for her to do right now, John decided to play back. "Messy?"

Snickering, Larrin flicked John's ear. "Wild… Said they make great lovers, but terrible companions."

Now convinced she _was_ just teasing him, John fought back _hard._ "Too bad your grandma never met me."

Larrin's face spread in mild surprise. "_Careful Sheppard…_ You never want to insult a Traveler's family."

Unafraid, John mused. "Oh, why? What'll happen if…" He'd spoken too soon, and Larrin's hand came down to squeeze him just a _little _harder than he would have liked. "_Urrgghhh!"_ Completely incapacitated, John muttered in a higher pitched voice. _"Okay okay! You've made your point!" _He could feel his eyes bulging and his neck veins pulsate from the surprising strain.

Larrin relaxed her grip, and before John could say anything in defense, she pushed her lips onto his.

It was the strangest come-on John had ever been faced with (_which in his experience was quite extensive)_, and feeling Larrin's lips roll on his was a decent distraction to the twinge of pain in his… _package._

Finally he broke the lip lock, and held Larrin a few inches away. "Larrin! _What are you…?"_

Larrin shook her head and shushed him before pushing back even harder. The next thing he knew they were on his sofa with her thighs around his waist.

She continued kissing him on the lips, pushing back whenever he tried to speak. Larrin obviously knew what she wanted and apparently, John didn't have much choice in the matter.

* * *

"Well… I'd ask where the welcome rug is but uhh…" Drake reached out with his gloved hand and brushed away a large layer of dust from the door. "…I'm not sure we could find it."

Alicia tried to focus on what looked like a control panel up ahead, but found her vision tunneling. "Oh, man… anyone else feel kinda woozy?" She stumbled a bit, leaning on the wall to support herself.

Dusty blew some deep breaths, then shook her head clear. "Yeah… what _is_ that?"

Reyna rubbed her own eyes and noticed Rafaela begin to wobble in place. She tapped Drake on the arm and motioned. "Help her… I'll get my kit out."

Drake moved over and steadied the scientist; she looked a little sick and held her stomach with one hand. "I've… I've got some nausea… feel like I'm gonna puke."

Putting his arm around her, Drake himself fought off the strange feeling. "Rey… what _is this?"_

Reyna quickly pulled out a scanner and began to take readings of the area around. She furrowed her brow and then motioned to inside the outpost "We need to get inside… I'll explain there but we need to move _now!_"

Unwilling to challenge her suddenly exasperated assessment, the entire group moved deeper into the dull red and rusty outpost. It wasn't long before they'd reached something akin to a control room with some benches, and slowly the odd crippling nausea went away.

Alicia sat back on a panel and found herself suddenly taking deep breaths of the surprisingly thin air. She pulled out her canteen, took a few sips then handed it to Drake who held Rafaela as she moaned softly, still feeling quite sick.

Dusty and Reyna were the first to recover, and after a quick check of the room both made it back to the group. "Alright… the area's pretty dirty but it's clear."

Alicia held her hand out in front of her face checking her vision again. She was glad to see it was improving and turned to Reyna. "Rey… what the _hell _happened back there?"

Reyna nodded and tried to explain simply. "A combination of things… our probe that came here a few hours ago just said this place was habitable and full of plant life… I guess I must have missed the part that said the oxygen was almost twice the density."

Drake raised his eyebrows in shock. "_Twice? _Aw _sranje!" _the man shook his head dejectedly. "No wonder we're all going loopy."

Dusty didn't get it and found herself taking deep breaths as well. "What? What does that mean?"

Reyna leaned back on the wall, then let herself fall back onto the floor in a seated position. She took long deep breaths as if she'd just run a marathon. "High oxygen will feel similar to being inebriated. Almost like an amphetamine." She rubbed her face and groaned. "When I scanned the area out there though, I noticed that inside here conditions are normal. This outpost has some kind of barrier around it keeping the oxygen levels nominal."

Alicia took a few seconds to think; the nausea was passing. "That's not it, is it? There's something else. That's why we got sick all of a sudden."

Reyna nodded, and she looked to Rafaela. "I'm not too sure, but it looked like a low frequency repulsor field. I don't know too much about that, but I know it can cause nausea, dizziness, even pain if you stick around for too long."

Now composed, Dusty got up and looked around the damaged control room. A few lights were still winking but it looked very sparse compared to Atlantis or even the outpost on Saudade's mainland. "So what? The Ancients knew about the oxygen thing and... Why would they need a repulsor field thingy?"

Rafaela finally stopped hyperventilating and pushed Drake's arm off her. She motioned for Drake to give her her equipment. "I'll take a look… but a low frequency pulse field would be useful in pest control." She accepted the PDA and then motioned to Reyna. "Scanner, please?"

Alicia had decided to let the scientist do the work now, and looked over to Drake who seemed quite composed despite the wave of dizziness that had come over them. "Dan… let's check this place out." She turned to Reyna and Rafaela quickly. "That should be safe right?"

Both women nodded, and soon they'd hooked their equipment together into one tablet to gauge their readings. Dusty helped them up and to move all their stuff to the control panel. She turned to Alicia and nodded. "Yeah I know, babysitting."

Alicia gave Dusty a sarcastic grin and tapped her nose. Dusty snickered and sighed as Alicia and Drake moved off with their weapons at the ready. Taking a look around, Dusty wondered how long this place had been here. "This place needs a serious redecorating."

Reyna pulled out an atmospheric sampler and set it on the floor. "I dunno, reminds me of the older Generational ships we have."

Rafaela smirked as she plugged in her wide band sensor to the tablet. With all the gadgetry attached, it would be a few minutes before an accurate reading of the outpost in its entirety was finished. "This looks a lot older to be honest. Look at the rust." Rafaela flicked at the wall and a generous amount of it flaked off. "I didn't even know these alloys _could_ rust."

Dusty groaned softly. Being the lowest ranked soldier on Atlantis had its downsides, and having to stick around listening to geeks was one of them.

* * *

Nevas hummed softly to himself as he walked down the corridor. Sheppard had mentioned something about wanting to know specifically what kind of crime the general population of the Travelers were committing and, loath as he was to admit it, Nevas wasn't used to being a policing force.

He spotted Larrin shuffling down the opposite end, away from Sheppard's office. She looked…unkempt, which for Larrin was a _very_ unusual thing.

Nevas didn't pay much attention and gave her a small nod as they walked past each other. Another few seconds and he got to Sheppard's office. The door was unlocked and ajar.

Opening it, he found Sheppard palming his forehead as he sat at his desk. His hair was messier than usual and his face was flushed. "Sheppard."

The colonel raised his head and nodded. "Nevas… what's up?"

Stepping deeper into the room, Nevas was hit by a wave of... _holy shit! _ "Uhh…." Realizing by way of smell, the appearances of the two of them, as well as the rather strange mannerisms of both, Nevas decided to try and keep it on the downlow. Not like it really mattered to him but _damn! _"I uhh… wanted to know what grades you've given my people. Most are pretty excited to actually be part of an organized military force."

Sheppard nodded as if he was exhausted. He half groaned, half yawned as Nevas took a seat. "Yeah well… they're not done. What me an' Cadman have trained them in, is basics. You're ahead of the curve but even so…" Sighing, John leaned back in his chair. "How do you guys feel about this? I mean… this training is pretty intense and different from what you're used to."

Nevas shrugged in reply. "It's different yes, but I think that's what we need. All my life we've just been going from port to port, trading and trying to outrun the Wraith. This is the first time in ten thousand years we've actually settled down… Most of our ships out there are undercrewed."

John nodded and reached into his desk for something. "I know… Larrin's been bitching about not having enough ships out there scavenging. Until we can find a renewable source of food for the entire base, we're gonna have to keep scavenging." He pulled out a bottle of liquor. Seeing as it was only around mid-day, Nevas raised his eyebrows. "Want a shot?"

Nevas was now convinced _something_ had happened. If the disheveled look wasn't enough proof, drinking this early in the day certainly way. "A little early to start drinking, isn't it?"

John shrugged and poured himself a single shot in his mug. "It's 5 o'clock _somewhere._" He started chuckling and poured another. "I'm not getting drunk. Just a shot to calm down. Having a _really_ weird day." John raised his mug and slid the other smaller cup to Nevas.

Deciding to join in despite the peculiar circumstances, Nevas picked up the glass and raised it to his lips. John did the same and in one swift motion took the drink down. Nevas winced at the peculiar taste of the Traveler brandy and smacked his tongue. "Nice."

"Right, now that that's done, I got a few questions for you."

Now Nevas understood. Sheppard had always kept his distance from Traveler culture and Larrin had likely just shoved it in his face… literally. "Wouldn't have anything to do with Larrin, would it?"

John groaned softly and palmed his forehead. Tact and shame would have to wait, curiosity and damage control was more important now. "Since you obviously know, why didn't she let me say anything?"

That was a bit of a surprise to Nevas, if it was one thing about his culture, the Travelers were very open and always talked about sex when the subject came up. "That _is_ odd. Usually we work it out beforehand. Prevents any issues. Small ship, an issue could mean life or death you know?"

Feeling the embarrassment start to creep up his neck in a warm wave, John sighed. "Listen… can we keep this…?"

Smirking, Nevas used an Earth colloquialism he'd heard many times. "On the downlow?"

"Exactly." John gulped and put the bottle away. "What do you know about Larrin?"

* * *

"Did you hear that?"

Dan turned his head towards Alicia and nodded. "Yeah… sounded like a… tapping."

Alicia raised her Particle Magnum and moved forward. "Let's check it out… cover me."

Taking a flanking position, Dan raised his own sidearm and kept his senses alert. "Could be wildlife… actually, did you see anything on the way here?"

Thinking back, Alicia shook her head as she crept forward through the hallway to a lobby leading outside. "Now that you mention it... No, that does seem odd."

Again, a tapping, almost as if something was rapping at the walls of the outpost. Dan moved a bit further from Alicia but kept a watchful eye. The hallway split in front of them. "Split up?"

Alicia took a second to think. It was unlikely there was anything dangerous here, but splitting up seemed… reckless. But she felt the need to show her fearlessness. "Yeah… take the right, I'll take the left. Meet up on the other side"

Dan nodded and put his hand to his earpiece radio. "Check, check."

Tapping her own radio, Alicia acknowledged that it was working. She nodded once, then moved out.

This place was downright creepy now that she was on her own. The walls were blood red with rust, the thin wisps of what looked like cobwebs flowing in the softly rustling air.

These Ancient outposts really lived up to their name. Alicia noted she was leaving footprints in the dust at least an inch thick. The wind must have…

At the edge of her vision, she noted something in the dust as well. It looked oddly pattern shaped and she bent down to examine it closer.

A circular hole had been pushed down on the dirt, and nearby many more of them, all in sequence. It took a few seconds for Alicia to realize what it was, but she held her gasp in the stale air as she tapped her radio. "Hey, it's Vega… we're not alone."

A few moments passed and Reyna's voice came through. _"I'm guessing it's just wildlife. We're going through the database they have now."_

Rafaela's voice added. _"It's taking a bit to download it. It's pretty corrupted and the defragmentation and recovery process is taking awhile."_

Alicia was about to snark back about fragging and recovery when Dan did her the favor. "_Should we call Geek Squad in?"_

Feeling that an argument (however comical)was about to start. Alicia nipped it in the bud. "Hey hey, play nice. Dan's the odd one out so let's try and keep calm."

To their credit, the argument halted. Alicia breathed a sigh of relief that her first mission with this full team wasn't turning into an argument. A part of her worried about Dan. He'd shown quite the propensity for thinking with the wrong head and in a situation like this, with the four of them alongside him, she worried about his concentration. Yes she knew she was being a little vain about their looks, but dammit, her team was sexy!

He was a Marine though, and she knew that deep down there must be a part of him that would shine through anything. Knowing next to nothing about him made him all the more confusing. Maybe when this was over she'd actually _ask_ him something.

Taking a closer look at the prints in the ground, Alicia decided to follow them for a bit. More tapping could be heard outside and the noise of her breathing was the only competition.

The lack of birds singing, or even a din of movement was very disturbing. Alicia was used to the noise of Atlantis, power humming in the conduits, people walking around, John or Dan making some joke. Chuck just creating pandemonium with his random funny moments. "Dan… check in."

Silence, the radio remained quiet and Alicia could see the outdoors now. The somewhat nauseating feel of the repulsor field began to irritate her and she called out again. "Drake, _check in."_

Still nothing, worry began to set in with more strength. She certainly didn't want a casualty on the first mission. Nearly losing Cadman had been bad enough. Alicia may have had her misgivings about Drake's intentions, but she'd trust him with her life and she knew he trusted her. "Come on Danny, come in!"

A sound up ahead in the foliage, this time clearly something moving… and something large.

A shadow passed by on the wall by the exit, it was roughly blob shaped and moved nimbly. Alicia raised her particle magnum, and her radio finally squeaked. "_This is Reyna! Get back to the control room! We need to get off this planet __now!"_

Alicia tapped her radio as she backpedaled away from the strange moving object out of sight. "Rey… what the hell's going…?"

Shattering the calm of the moment, the blob suddenly became clear in the hallway. Alicia's heart skipped a beat as she saw what looked like a 3-foot large spider frothing at the mouth and convulsing.

She hesitated, it was the scariest thing Alicia had ever seen and she just couldn't press the trigger.

The arachnid from hell moved forward. The repulsor field seemed to bother it immensely, but it had seen Alicia and was after her.

Realizing that to a 3-foot spider, her 135 pounds of toned muscle would be a tasty snack, Alicia finally aimed and fired.

The particle shot caused a searing wound to form on the spider's main body, but it had a tough outer layer of skin that protected it well. It was going to take some serious firepower to take that thing out.

Alicia fell back as fast as she could fire; there was _no_ way she wanted to see that thing up close. She panicked thinking about what might have happened to Dan, but kept on pulling the trigger.

Each shot hurt the creature immensely and it hissed, spewing out what looked like blood and sprays of webbing. It ran forward fast, almost like a dog.

It was almost on top of her when the sound of a SCAR-H filled the hallway behind her. She made out Dan's heavy footfalls and scream of anger.

Between the bullets and the Magnum bolts, the spider let out a dying hiss rattle and fell to the floor in its own splattered gore.

Dan put a hand on Alicia's shoulder. "You okay?"

How _dare he! _ Alicia had been worried sick he'd been eaten alive by giant spiders from some classically bad horror movie and he had the _audacity_ to ask if _she_ was okay!? Taking him by the collar, Alicia trembled as she looked at him, then the giant dead spider at her feet, then back at him over and over. "_You… are going to give me… an ULCER!"_

Dan could see that she wasn't herself and mused. "Uhh… sorry I couldn't reply. Found a nest of these fuckers and had to stay quiet. Next time I'll warn you when I come in guns blazin'."

Finally able to actually look at the grotestque mained body on the floor in front of her, Alicia noticed parts of it were still moving. Dan moved ahead and squished the head underneath his combat boot, putting a final end to disgusting creature.

There was only one thing Alicia could say as she turned and held her arms to her throat to keep from puking. "_EWWWW!"_


	24. Outpost Zeta Twelve Third Third

Sam scratched her chin and wondered what was going on. John was unusually distracted and wasn't the typical challenge he posed. "Checkmate."

John furrowed his brow, looked down at the crystal chessboard behind the third celery-like vegetable he was munching on. "Hmm? Oh... Damn. Didn't see that."

Chuckling, Sam began to put her pieces back to the side. This light early dinner thing they'd been having was nice. It was so much more wholesome than the… well… whatever they'd had before. Sam loved that she could take this time to talk to John, about Atlantis, about her ideas and opinions, sometimes even just random stuff that happened during each one's day. It was… _nice._

So seeing John be so distracted that he couldn't even put up a defense in chess made Sam worry. "What's wrong?"

John took a few seconds to himself, then quietly shrugged. "Just… confused."

Disliking vague answers, but knowing that John likely didn't want to talk about it, Sam kept her voice calm and comforting. "I'm here you know? We promised we'd talk and… well… I'm here."

John nodded, and after sighing he looked around Sam's office. Every old Air Force paraphernalia she'd had was gone, too ashamed to showcase what they'd left behind. One of the only things left that John recognized from Earth was a statue of Leela from Futurama. Ironically he had one of Fry in his room. "I… I know." John looked to Sam and wondered about what exactly he wanted from her.

God, what was he even doing here? Not even an hour and a half ago Larrin had left him exhausted on his office sofa… he felt so dirty just sitting here with Sam talking… just talking. It almost felt like cheating.

Sam gave him a gentle smile and nodded. "Well… if you're sure."

With more force, John nodded and stretched his arms. "Yeah… I'll be good." He pushed out of the chair and stretched his neck. If only Sam knew why he was so sore… "Gotta take Ronon to the mainland… promised him I'd give him a ride, and I still gotta work out how we're going to hold that ceremony."

Getting a somewhat somber face, Sam nodded and began to put away the crystal chess set they'd gotten together what felt like ages ago. "Leave it to me. Daniel's going to help out a lot too, so it shouldn't be a problem." She noted that John didn't mention what he was going to say, and now Sam understood at least a part of what was weighing John down. "Hey… help me up."

John raised an eyebrow at how Sam simply ordered him to help her stand on her broken leg. "Uhh.. why? You need to go somewhere?"

Sam shook her head and used her hands to wave him closer. "No no no… only take a second."

Relenting, John moved over and picked Sam up by her armpits. He was a little taken aback when, as she stood and winced in pain, she leaned forward to hug him.

If he'd felt dirty before just sitting here, feeling Sam's arms around him made him feel… _unclean._ Sam whispered as she squeezed him. _"You look like you need a hug."_

John bowed his head onto her shoulder and bit his lower lip. By god he didn't deserve this hug, but she was right.

Wrapping his own arms around her, and being careful not to hurt her leg. John simply held her for a moment.

They broke the hug amicably, before it was too long and not so short it was awkward. John helped her back down into her seat and gave her shoulder a squeeze of support. He kept his voice quiet. "Thanks."

Sam nodded and smiled. "Futurama tonight? Daniel promised he'd give it a try."

Chuckling openly, John felt a warmness that was so unlike what he'd experienced earlier. "Sure, I'll bring my DVDs."

Now with a smile despite his internal struggle, John parted ways from Sam again, his thoughts a jumbled mess, though… perhaps a little less troubled.

* * *

"_You're SHITTING me!"_

The entire team had gathered around the console where Reyna and Rafaela had managed to download most of the information the few remaining active databases the outpost had left had. Dusty's near scream at the sight of what was on the screen was enough to have the others shirk back.

Reyna turned to Alicia with a confused face. "Tell me that's not what I think it means."

Alicia resisted slapping her forehead as she held her rifle out and ready. "She means it's ridiculous! Giant insects?!"

Dusty nodded, realizing that once again, Reyna had misunderstood her language. "How the hell did they get so big?"

Pointing to the recently activated screen on the control panel, Reyna explained. "Look, we've accessed the database or what's left of it. This outpost was put here to study the native life and how it evolved. Because the oxygen is so thick outside, animal life was able to grow much, much larger."

Reyna then turned to Rafaela who held the tablet still linked as well on a different page. "Even more, this planet has _a lot_ of volcanic activity. That's creating a lot of carbon dioxide so the plants are just as well fed, and that just makes it easier for the bugs!"

Alicia groaned softly and shuddered. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars and god knows how much time spent turning me into a pilot and killing machine, and I'd give it all up for a nice big can of raid."

To her surprise, Dan immediately replied. "Aw, I hated that movie."

Feeling very nervous and darting her gun around them, Dusty replied quickly. _"What movie?"_

To everyone's surprise, Reyna answered off-handedly. "Lost in Space."

Rafaela turned to Reyna with a shocked expression. "How the _hell_ did you know?"

Shrugging, Reyna replied matter-of-factly. "Well, if you'd come to movie night more often, you'd know!"

Dan turned his head as he cursed in Serbian before speaking. "… What about other life? What's top dog on this planet?"

Again, Reyna raised an eyebrow. "According to the database, most mammalian life like primates and canines don't exist on this planet anymore. The most dominant creature seems to be spiders."

Alicia shuddered. "That is _not _a good thing!"

Dan smirked and grunted softly. "Scared of spiders?" All four women gave him pointed looks. Dan simply held up his hands in surrender. "Alright alright… yeah they're creepy as fuck, but they still die when you shoot 'em. Just gotta shoot 'em a lot."

Rafaela groaned irritably and felt like strangling Dan. "You handsome idiot, don't you get it? Spiders are one of nature's _best_ predators! If a species of carnivorous spider was the size of a _tabby_ cat back on earth, the human race _wouldn't exist!_ And that's not all, the records here show that there's plenty of other insects that have grown and overcome most mammalian and even reptilian life! _This place is the conglomeration of every bad horror movie from the 70s!"_

Rafaela had turned beet red in the face as her voice rose to a scream. Obviously she was very distraught about being in this place. Dan didn't make it any better as he quirked his eyebrow and mused. "You think I'm handsome?"

Dusty turned and gave Dan a death glare. "_God _you're so frustrating! Why the _hell_ did Carter even put you on this team if you're just going to think with your dick!?"

Dan turned to Dusty and raised an eyebrow. "No I getcha, big ass spiders and other nasty fucking bugs wanna eat our asses. Freaking out and panicking isn't going to do me any good so I'm gonna stay calm and put as many bullets into 'em as I can." Dan's voice had grown from terse to downright indignant. "And whether I got a hard-on or not while you ladies are around doesn't make a difference, I'll fuck up any bug that comes after any of us."

Alicia was used to Dan's crude speech, but Rafaela and Reyna were obviously upset by it. But that could wait. They needed to move. "Forget Dan's wang, it took us almost two hours to get here and we didn't see any of them. Why?"

Reyna then explained as she tapped the screen. "That's because the repulsor field is tied into the Ancestral Ring." She turned to Rafaela. "What was it you said? Laid-man terms?"

Nobody laughed. Rafaela just summed it up. "Just… it's not safe anymore! It was safe because the repulsor field fired a big burst clearing the direct route! There used to be a road there but that was a very, _very_ long time ago. Whenever the stargate activates the outpost sends out a single massive burst drawing from that power. It scares them all away for awhile."

Dan decided to keep talking despite his unpopularity. "Can't we do the same from here? I mean… we _are_ inside this place."

Narrowing her eyes obviously still annoyed, Rafaela explains. "The only reason it worked the first time was because the outpost drew power from the stargate. The outpost itself is operating on _solar_ power, which isn't anywhere near enough to send a pulse out. Just this little area."

Dusty breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh that's great then! We just wait here till Atlantis dials to check up on us and…." She noted the disparaged looks Reyna and Rafaela gave her. "…Not going to work?"

Rafaela shook her head. "No… activating the console here and downloading the database drained most of the reserve battery that was left. I'm guessing it was damaged to start with. In fact, I think the bugs took offense at the Ancients and were the ones to drive them out of here. There're a few sketchy logs that…"

Now Alicia was getting frustrated. "Later Ella, how long do we have?"

Shrugging, Rafaela summed it up quickly. "Less than an hour. Atlantis isn't scheduled to contact us for another 2 and a half."

Alicia sighed heavily and clenched her jaw. Less than an hour of safety… "If we ran, we could probably make it back to the gate in less than an hour…. Can you extend the field at all? Anything to give us a head start?"

Rafaela sighed, and she looked down at her tablet. "Give me five minutes… I might be able to clear a small area."

Repressing her growl, Alicia motioned to Dan in a "come on" gesture,

Dan nodded slightly and the two officers moved off to talk privately. Dan got right into it as soon as they were out of earshot. "Reprimand?"

Narrowing her eyes, Aliaic growled. "Well if you can tell, then why the hell are you being so bitchy?"

"Because as much as I _wanted_ to freak out when I saw these things, if I had, that spider mighta taken a chunk outta you." Dan said it matter of factly, implying more than he actually said.

Taking a few seconds, Alicia summed up her position in a few words. "If you _ever_ talk to any of us like that again, your balls are gonna be my newest trophy on my bookcase. Clear?"

Narrowing his eyes, Dan nodded curtly. _"Yes, Ma'am."_

Before he could turn around and walk back, Alicia took him by the shoulder. "Dan. Thanks for back there."

Turning his head to look at her, Dan nodded again, this time less tersely. "Sure."

Letting him go, Alicia breathed a silent sigh of relief. Dan was just as terrified as the rest of them, but it seemed he dealt with it in a different way. Now all that was left was getting back home in one piece and never _ever_ coming back to this planet.

* * *

The run back to the gate was much faster then the gentle walk towards the outpost. with the majority of the foilage already cut down, it was just a matter of not tripping. Alicia kept on point but made sure her team wasn't far behind.

Reyna and Esposito were slowing them down considerably. Neither woman was used to long treks through rough terrain and even Dan with all his equipment was hardly sweating at the pace they were going.

"Too slow… if those things come at us…"

Alicia turned to Dusty with a "shut up" glare. What really worried her though was the lack of any sounds around them; no animals, even the wind seemed to have stopped.

Rafaela panted as she jogged along the cut down path, Alicia held back from telling them to move faster, but dammit! She'd have been to the gate by now if not for…

"_JEDNA!"_

Dan had opted to take the rear, quite possibly the worst position to be in given the situation. His scream carried through the dense jungle and Alicia realized he was under attack. "Dusty! Keep running!"

Not bothering to see whether Dusty followed orders, Alicia slapped both Reyna's and Rafaela's backs as she fell back to help her comrade. The sound of gunfire broke the odd calm terror of the area.

The Particle Magnum had proven less useful then originally thought against these things, so Alicia pulled out her SCAR and headed towards the sound of the gunfire.

She thought about what Dan had said, about wanting to freak out but not giving oneself the opportunity to do it. Alicia certainly had those thoughts in her head as she saw what looked like a giant mosquito buzz around her second in command.

At that range, Dan didn't even bother shooting, simply raising the butt of his rifle and smacking the mosquito thing out of the way. There were wounded bugs all around him. The horror movie had jumped him, and everything from mosquito things, to 2-foot long beetles had tried to attack him.

A larger multicolored beetle thing had just literally burrowed out of the ground behind him and made for his leg. Alicia didn't hesitate and fired a long burst cracking the creature's carapace in half from the heavy bullets.

Dan spared Alicia one glance, then motioned as he dropped something to the ground. "Run!"

Unwilling to leave him behind, Alicia fired another three short bursts at anything that was moving. "Come on!"

Dan finally emptied his weapon and fell back; he grabbed Alicia by the shirt and pulled her along. "Fire in the hole!"

Alicia then realized what Dan had dropped, and she let go of her rifle to cover her ears as Dan did as well.

He flicked the detonator switch on the satchel of C4 he'd dropped. The explosion was massive, and the shockwave was enough to knock both soldiers down onto the ground.

Dan rolled as he hit the rough terrain and used his own body to cover Alicia. He quickly got up as soon as the debris stopped falling, though, and pulled her up.

Alicia was shocked by the move. For a second she thought he was grinding on her, but when he pulled her up she could see that he was more panicked than aroused. "Move!"

As she reloaded her weapon, she heard the distinct rapid fire of a P90 up ahead. They were maybe 500 feet from the gate and it looked like it was going to be a _hard_ 500 feet.

* * *

Reyna didn't have any qualms about killing something. Her 28 years on a Traveler ship had been relatively sheltered, but hunting was something she never had a problem with. These bug things were just more meat in her eyes.

It was more than that though, and while not the best shot, Reyna could tell Dusty was surprised by how accurate Reyna's shots were.

The large flying bug creature fell to the ground flopping as one wing fluttered to the ground separately, completely dismembered by an accurate burst of 5.7 rounds.

The explosion behind them had been scary, but seeing both Alicia and Dan coming at them dirty and disheveled raised hope.

Behind her, the stargate began to crank and dial. The odd purple lights were still new to her, and... "_Ah!"_

Something had grabbed a hold of her leg, wrapping around her calf and up to her thigh. She fell to the floor hard onto the rocky terrain.

She reached down to try and pry it off, but felt her hand get stuck. Then it yanked _hard._

Looking up towards where she was getting pulled, she saw a _massive_ spider like creature pulling her closer using what she now understood was webbing.

Reyna did _not_ want to get eaten, and with her one free hand, she raised her P90, still strapped to her torso. Before she could properly aim for a good shot though, the spider shirked back and let go falling back into the foliage,

The thing had recognized the P90 as a weapon that could hurt it. It had the intelligence and sentience to know… but before it could completely get away, the area around it was shredded to pieces from a pair of SCAR-H's suppressing it. "_Rey!"_

Reyna tried to get up, but felt the strained muscles in her leg complain loud enough to keep her on the ground; she fell onto her left side as her leg buckled and trembled. She cried out as she bit her lip.

She felt Dan's arm pull her up and support her hurt leg. Reyna looped her free arm around Dan's neck and limped forward towards the now opening stargate.

Alicia jumped up to a rocky outcropping and fired her weapon in a suppressive manner; Dusty crouched by the DHD she'd just dialed as Rafaela moved up to the event horizon. "Atlantis! This is Esposito! Lower the shield, we're coming through!"

Reyna winced as she hopped forward on one leg, her P90 firing randomly into the thick underbrush. She heard Chuck's voice over the radio. _"Shield is down, come on through."_

One by one, the team rushed through the gate as Alicia held back the approaching bugs with her rifle. Finally sure that they'd all made it through, Alicia flicked the pin off a grenade and tossed it onto the pedestal in front of the stargate. She backpedaled through the event horizon.

* * *

Supported by Daniel, Sam limped out to greet the incoming team. They weren't expected for another few hours at least so this meant something had happened. Chuck's report of hearing gunfire didn't help any either.

They'd just gotten down to the gateroom floor as the team went through, Everyone was dirty and muddy, but Reyna looked the worst with what looked like a giant rope attached to her leg, the pant section of her uniform torn. "What happened?"

The team looked to each other, everyone questioning how to answer such a simple question. Alicia was the first to reply. "_Bugs. Big… Nasty… Bugs."_

Now Sam understood that whatever had happened, it had definitely been disturbing. There wasn't any huge rush so Sam decided to be more understanding. "It's okay… go get cleaned up. Come see me when you're ready."

Alicia wanted to get it over with now, just give her report and see to her team, but looking to her team, each was in a bad state. A report now would just be asking for trouble. "Thank you… we _did_ get the job done but…" She shuddered remembering the size of the spider that had attacked her. "_Eugh… _I _don't_ recommend we go back there unless it's by ship."

Daniel looked at Reyna and the sticky webbing on her leg. "Uhh you okay Rey?"

Reyna's lips trembled as the shock finally set in. Dan still held her up as she spoke. "Umm… No." She blew a hard sigh, and with her free hand, rubbed her chin. "I'll be okay… just… just need some…" It was painfully obvious she was in delayed shock and quite upset.

Sam held her hand up and nodded. "Go. Don't worry… we can talk later."

The team again nodded, and breathed a deep sigh of relief that they'd escaped the planet of B-Movie horrors.

* * *

"Bugs?"

Dan nodded as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it into the hamper. He pulled out a more comfortable shirt from his locker and flung it on. "Yeah, creepy as fuck."

Nevas grumbled as he leaned on the table nearby. "I bet, must have been freaky with the ladies around."

Dan turned his head to Nevas and narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shrugging, Nevas mused. "Bugs and women? Can't see how that'd work out well."

Dan grumbled as he closed the locker. "Fuck off, they did great."

Nevas seemed to relent and sighed. "Well… they are soldiers I'll give 'em that. Must be nice for you though."

Again, Dan turned to Nevas curiously. "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Nevas chuckled and smiled suggestively, "Don't pretend you don't know. I saw you and Rey heading to the infirmary. I've been trying to get into her pants for months now."

Dan narrowed his eyes as Nevas laughed. _"Excuse me?"_

"And the others? Damn, your people sure take good care of themselves. I'd love to _negotiate_ with them."

Dan remained silent for a few moments as Nevas continued laughing. With little show of anger, Dan walked up to Nevas.

Contrasting the levity of the moment, Dan grabbed a hold of Nevas's collar and flipped him back onto the lockers making a loud ruckus. Nevas wasn't expecting the attack and was caught off guard. Dan slammed him three times onto the locker, stunning the man. "_If I __ever__ hear you talking about them like that again, I'll shove my fist so far up your ass, I could break your damn spine!"_

Nevas grunted in acknowledgment, and as soon as Dan let him go he scurried out of the locker room in surprise. He'd never angered any of the expedition to that degree before and Dan's rage was something he'd _never_ seen before.

Dan grumbled a bit more, and pulled off his holster to put the weapon away. It was another minute of standing there alone that another voice caught his attention. "Hey… Slob."

Dan turned to the familiar voice. "Dusty?"

The young woman entered the room with an expression of disbelief. "I heard you."

Keeping his face impassive, Dan faced off. "And?"

Dusty took a few moments to think. She'd come down here to apologize to Dan about her behavior on the mission. Alicia had told her that Dan dealt with panic in a different way, something she hadn't gotten the chance to see before since they hadn't faced such overwhelming odds. They'd never been the underdog in their fights with the Wraith or even Asurans. "And… thanks." That's all she could say now.

For his credit, Dan simply bowed his head and nodded. "Yeah…"

A few awkward moments passed, and Dusty motioned to him. "Come on, we're gonna go see Rey. We should all be there."

Dan shifted his jaw and sighed. "Not sure they'll want to see me."

Now frustrated, Dusty reached out and grabbed Dan in a one armed hug. "Just… come! I'm still angry but I kinda like what you just did, so… Just don't talk about your dick anymore okay?"

Dan's frown quirked into a smile. "I think _you_ started that one."

Dusty elbowed Dan in the gut and laughed. "Just… _gah,_ you're so frustrating!"

Laughing now, Dan wrapped his own arm around Dusty. "Ah _Prasnajav_, would you love me if I wasn't?"

Snorting, and still a little angry, Dusty rolled her eyes. "I swear, when you die, I don't know whether I'm gonna cry or dance on your grave."

Dan simply rolled his eyes as they walked out.

* * *

"Teyla?!"

Teyla smiled and leaned forward to hug John. "It is good to see you John."

Hugging her back with a smile and chuckle, John noted Daniel standing behind her with a shrug. "Figured I'd bring her along, we need a break from the mainland."

John smirked and looked at Teyla. "It's good to see you again. Come on in!"

Leading the pair into Sam's quarters, they noted a bunch of pillows and blankets on the ground where Sam sat with her broken leg outstretched on a pair of long pillows. "Hey! Daniel, Teyla! Didn't know you were coming!" Sam sat up straight and sighed. "I'd get up but…"

Teyla shook her head and smiled back. "Do not worry yourself, Sam. Daniel has offered to translate as much as he could of this… _Futurama."_

Both John and Sam looked to each other and snickered. "Get ready for a _long_ lesson."

* * *

"On Athos, we forbade the children from making tea from or burning one specific herb as it had similar effects."

Daniel chuckled as Teyla sat next to him on the floor of Sam's room. "You would dream you were dancing with an electric eel?"

Both Sam and John sitting beside them laughed. Sam lowered the volume on the DVD and looked to Teyla. "It's a different kind of humor. You have to know Earth culture, specifically American."

John smirked as he popped a fruit similar to a grape in his mouth. "It's okay if you don't get it, Teyla; a lot of people back on Earth didn't get it either."

On the screen, Bender had just smoked an entire cigar and drank a whole bottle of tequila as he stated that he didn't have an addictive personality. Daniel chuckled but shook his head idly. "I'm one of them, it's funny… but not that funny, to me at least."

Teyla furrowed her brow and shoved Daniel a bit. "At least you understand it. Some things I understand, like Fry being confused about the future, but what's with that giant lobster?"

John and Sam laughed heartily. As if the show wasn't funny enough, confusion over it always made the laughs exponential.

They finished watching the episode, which involved Bender joining the church of Robotology and later going back to his old sinful ways. He was then tossed into _Robot Hell_ where Fry and Leela had to save him.

Teyla laughed at the musical near the end where the Robot Devil serenaded Bender with a torturous up-tempo song. Although many jokes flew right over her head like Bender saying "2" at the end of the robotic binary prayer, and the 'irony' of Robot Hell existing in New Jersey.

John got up and popped the DVD out. They'd watched a lot of episodes so far and Daniel had to admit some of it was pretty funny. He was having more fun cuddling with Teyla and explaining the jokes, at least those he could.

Looking back to Sam and Daniel, John popped in the third DVD. "Roswell that ends well?"

Teyla furrowed her brow and chuckled. "Sorry?"

Sam smiled knowing what John meant. "It's the name of an episode, one of the better ones I'd say."

Daniel snorted and looked to Sam. "Wouldn't have to do with the year 1947, would it?"

Sam nodded unashamedly. "One of the best explanations I've heard to date."

John sat down next to Sam and shifted as she laid her head on his shoulder comfortably. "Actually… you were at Area 51. What really happened?"

Sam sighed and shrugged. "Weather balloon."

Daniel gave her a pointed look. "_Really?!"_

Nodding, Sam clicked the play button. "The crash itself was a balloon, but the UFOs were experimental jets. The records showed that they used it as a cover story for all their other black ops."

Teyla just sat there with a confused face. "Your people still manage to confuse me even after 5 years…"

The group laughed, and the episode started. The combination of a supernova and putting metal in the microwave had sent the Planet Express ship back in time to Earth, thereby causing the Roswell incident. Daniel was watching and explaining it all to Teyla, while Sam and John simply sat and chatted softly, both watching and talking.

Once the episode was over, Daniel and Teyla finally got up and excused themselves. Daniel had agreed that it was funny, but not his style. Teyla simply shrugged and was glad to spend time with her friends. The door had just closed when Sam spoke up in a hushed tone. "Stay for a bit?"

John sighed as he put the DVD back into its case. These things were precious now; the last bits of Earth they had with them. "You want me to stay?"

Sam could see something was troubling John, so she decided to be tactful. "Well… I thought we could talk a bit… maybe work some things out."

Biting his lips, John shook his head. "Not tonight. I uhh… I've got some stuff to do and…" Seeing Sam look at him with a hint of suspicion, John felt worried that she knew. "Not that I don't want to! Just… I've just got a lot on my mind."

Sam could see John was being honest. His posture, his tone, everything she knew about him now told her that. But she could also see he was holding something back, but she didn't have the heart to ask. "Okay… but, I want you to know, I'm not…" Sam froze a moment, then whispered. "…_I like spending time with you."_

John winced out of Sam's sight. How could he have gotten this close to this woman? Why now? Why did the things that happened this morning have to happen? "Me too."

Neither said anything after that, and John finished packing up his stuff. Quietly he helped Sam into bed and tucked her in, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead goodnight. Sam gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek back, and they silently parted ways.

* * *

**Teaser for next Episode!  
(Release sometime early-mid next week**

**_Episode 13 – Tempus Fugit_**

* * *

_193 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Janus:** "It would take years for my device to eliminate the Wraith entirely. And in that time, I project that approximately sixty percent of the Astria Portas in this galaxy would suffer the same fate."

**Daniel Jackson:** "What!? But that's… how could…?"

**Janus:** "And now you see my dilemma. I am of two minds, two faces, and two entirely different potential futures."

**Daniel Jackson:** "Oh, _you_ of all people being of 'two faces'? _Ohh_ The irony… it's so sharp… Ow! Oh the pain… I'll have to remember to write that one down once I _stop the bleeding_."


	25. Tempus Fugit First Third

_**Episode 13 – Tempus Fugit (1/3)**_

_**A/N:**__ Behold! The highly anticipated "Tempus Fugit" Crossover Episode with __**Stargate: Aurora, **__which is written by the infamous __**"TheLegate"**__ or __**"Lantean General"**__ from GateWorld. Believe me when I say that his stories have both a deep level of thought, and such classic phrases as __**"One Astria Porta short of a gate network."**__ LOL This Story takes place during… an episode of Stargate Aurora and contains very minor spoilers (oohhh obvious foreshadowing!)_

_Thanks to __**"TheLegate"**__ for canonizing this story! As well as __**Neela **__ and __**TheIceMenace**__ for betaing! :D_

* * *

_193 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Janus:** "It would take years for my device to eliminate the Wraith entirely. And in that time, I project that approximately sixty percent of the Astria Portas in this galaxy would suffer the same fate."

**Daniel Jackson:** "What!? But that's… how could…?"

**Janus:** "And now you see my dilemma. I am of two minds, two faces, and two entirely different potential futures."

**Daniel Jackson:** "Oh, _you_ of all people being of _'two faces'?_ _Ohh_ The irony… it's so sharp… Ow! _Oh the pain_…_!_ I'll have to remember to write that one down once I _stop the bleeding!_"

* * *

"So the Olim have agreed to our trade agreements?"

Sam shrugged and sighed. "Well, Aulus seems pretty even handed. The way their culture works is a strange mix of democracy and feudalism. They have a ruling council which Aulus and Menalus are part of, but each has autonomous control of the people under their command."

To the side of the conference room, Larrin chuckled to herself. "Sorta like us. Only reason we're not splitting is we don't know what's out there. The second those Olim bastards accept us, you can bet at least five ships are leaving. We need to be prepared for that."

John sat on the other side of the conference room slicing up a pineapple the Travelers had brought from their second trip to _"Outpost Zeta Twelve"_ with his combat knife. He passed out slices as he spoke "The Olim were pretty clear what they wanted from us. Weapons and Energy production. Not like we could tell them how to build ZPMs."

Beside John, Daniel piped in during the command briefing after taking a bite. "Well at least they agreed to cultural exchange before anything else. The food'll help too since most of our crops off-world are giving us problems."

Sam nodded and rubbed her hands. "That shouldn't be too much of a problem for longer." She turned to John and sighed irritably. "The planet '_Outpost Zeta Twelve' _is on had dozens of different kinds of vegetation. We've recovered enough to last us a few weeks if we freeze dry it and the seeds will likely germinate better than the Pegasus crops we've brought."

Handing her a slice of Pineapple, John smirked. "Too bad spider tastes nasty, we'd have plenty of _meat_ for once."

Sam shuddered as she thought about it. The report sitting on her desk wasn't pretty.

Marks, who had asked the original question about trade agreements, sighed as he leaned on the table while standing. "Do they know about Daedalus? Or any of our ship's capabilities?" He then took a bite of the slice of pineapple John had handed him.

Sam shook her head. "No. they know we have ships, but not how many or what they're capable of. It's not like our energy weapons will do them any good against the Shade."

Daniel furrowed his brow and leaned forward. "Are you saying they're asking us for weapons that can be used against us?"

Larrin gave Daniel a sweet looking smile and deadpanned. "Unless there's another alien race that's trying to kill them out there, can't see who else."

Marks shook his head and growled. "No… I'm not giving them any weapons. Their railguns are better than ours, so I don't see why else they'd want them."

John nodded and said. "They've got a lot more ships too, and they know this galaxy. We might have technological superiority, but then again so did the Lanteans and look where they ended up.'"

Daniel groaned and held his hands up. "Now wait just a minute! Two minutes ago we're talking trade, and now we're gauging what kind of threat they are?" Daniel turned to John. "We know next to nothing about what happened to make the Lanteans lose. Ronon said that Todd told him the cloning facility gave them the edge, but we've seen what an Aurora can do to a Hive. There _has_ to be a reason they lost that doesn't have to do with combat at all."

Everyone looked to each other, and finally Sam groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "I think we need a break. Menalus really pissed me off and I could really use some food." She looked to everyone around here. "Lunch?"

Everyone nodded. The meeting had taken awhile and, despite having solidified plans for certain aspects of the city, there was still much more to go over.

Daniel pushed himself up out of the chair, and nodded to Sam as she limped out of the room towards her office. Carson had finally agreed that with a crutch, she could walk around, but Daniel still kept an eye on his stubborn friend.

But he also kept an eye on John, and he noticed that he and Larrin had just shared a rather… _intense_ look. For a moment Daniel wondered if what Cameron had told him about John and a cardboard box was true, but then he saw that it wasn't a… _charged_ look. Rather it was one of distaste. Maybe there _wasn't_ a bottle of tequila involved.

Stopping John before he could leave the room, Daniel put a hand on his shoulder. "Ummm John?"

The lieutenant colonel stopped and nodded. "Yeah?"

Daniel bit his lower lip and looked back to see both Sam and Larrin having a quick little laugh before separating at the top of the stairs to the gateroom. It was a delicate question and he had to word it properly. "John… your personal life is no business of mine… but Sam is family and…" Gulping now, realizing he might be angering a relatively unstable force of nature, Daniel meekly finished. "…and I just don't want to see her hurt."

John blinked a few times and remained impassive, His voice had the edge of anger to them though. "You don't trust me?"

Being diplomatic was a talent of Daniel's, so he used it. "I didn't say that. And I _do_ trust you…" He wet his suddenly dry lips and wished he hadn't said anything. "I just… _see_ things."

Realizing that Daniel had seen the animosity that had grown between him and Larrin, John sighed. "You know… if you were anyone else except maybe Ronon, I'd tell you to stick it." Looking away from Daniel, John cracked his knuckles by forming a fist. "Not here… come to my office later and… and we'll talk."

Not letting Daniel continue, John pushed past him and moved off.

Daniel sighed, realized he'd just stepped into another flaming bag of awkwardness, and walked into the control room where Chuck and Laura were seated at the console near the back. "Hey."

Both Laura and Chuck looked up and smiled. "Hey Jackson."

Looking over at the screen, Daniel mused. "How're you doing?"

Laura could tell the question was aimed at her, and she sighed softly. "I'm okay… Carson won't let me go anywhere on my own except to bed…" She snickered at her own humor. "…so Chucky here's giving me his cliff notes on the inventory system."

Chuck rolled his eyes and gave Laura a small shove. "He won't let anyone tuck you in because you sleep nak…" Laura quickly shoved back and gave him a pointed stare. Chuck laughed and looked to Daniel. "She's fine Jackson, just needs some downtime. Something I can do for you?"

Daniel smiled at the odd camaraderie he saw. Chuck was friendly with _everyone_ and he couldn't think of anyone who didn't like him. "Actually yes, where is Rafaela and the science team today? She said she found some Ancient devices and wanted me to take a look at them."

Chuck nodded and took control of the console from Laura. "Yeah, just gimme a second." He turned slightly to Laura as he shut down the window she had open. "Don't worry Boom-Boom, class isn't over."

Oddly enough to Daniel, Laura simply laughed and poked Chuck's face in retaliation. She coughed softly and held her side for a moment, but seemed in better condition than the last time Daniel had seen her.

It was heartening to know that everyone was close enough to play around like this. It reminded him of his time on SG1, and the way a small group of people could bond so well. It wasn't the same though, and Daniel began to wonder.

Chuck brought up the information and pointed it out to Daniel. "Here you go… Ella's in Tower D-2 on the East Pier. Room N-4 today. It's one of those storage labs."

Daniel nodded and patted the console twice before pushing off. "Thanks guys! Get better, Laura!"

"Bye!"

"Thanks! Bye, Daniel!"

Parting amicably, Daniel sighed seeing Sam sitting in her office going over the transcript the computer had taken of the negotiation that morning with the Olim. It was turning out to be a learning experience for both as the Olim were not used to negotiating with any other culture. She'd probably come find him for lunch soon.

By far Daniel was the one who found them the most interesting. An entire nomadic style culture with space faring technology. Oddly similar to the Travelers yet very different at the same time.

So far the only things the Olim had shown them were the militaristic natures and abilities they had. Daniel was itching to go to their "Homeworld" to see them in their natural environment.

It may have sounded like a zoological experiment, but Daniel didn't mean it offensively. He was just honestly curious how a race like the Olim lived.

* * *

"Hey Daniel! How you doing?"

Shrugging, Daniel walked into the lab and smiled at Rafaela. "Not bad, nice to be on Atlantis again."

Rafaela nodded and motioned for him to come closer. "I'll bet. Not to be offensive or anything, but I can't imagine what it's like on the mainland in Teyla's village."

Not offended in the slightest, Daniel walked around and stood behind Rafaela as she cataloged different items she'd found in this storage room. "It's okay. The Travelers have their own settlement nearby in the Ancient Outpost, so we're never on our own. I'll admit, sometimes I miss the bidets here."

Rafaela groaned exaggeratedly and chuckled. "Aww I don't wanna hear that!"

Daniel smiled back and put a hand on her shoulder. It was the kind of joke he'd gotten used to from hanging around the marines too much. On that note… "So hey... how's the new team doing?"

Rafaela shrugged a bit, then picked up a round object from the table. "Still getting used to it… The bugs were nasty but I know not every planet's like that. I liked last week when we went to see the refugees."

Daniel had heard about the… _difficulties_ on that mission from Reyna and lowered his voice. "Sure everything's okay? I know marines can be… _insensitive." _Daniel thought to the soldiers he knew: Jack, Sam, John, Marks… all command level and very pleasant… Well… except for that bit about the Wraith-Lantean war earlier today, but that was different.

The issue had passed in Rafaela's mind. She'd had a nice long talk with her team around Reyna's infirmary bed and things were nice now. She handed Daniel a round metal object on the table. "Yeah… a few glitches, but for the most pa…"

Daniel had just grabbed a hold of the metal ball when he felt a surge of energy creep up his arm and along his body. Before he could say anything else, a strange blur came to his vision and he had to shake his head to clear it.

Rafaela was gone, as were the other Traveler technicians around him. In fact, apart from the ball in his hand, Daniel now realized he was in a completely different room. In fact, despite the Lantean design, something felt… _very odd._ "Rafaela?"

Daniel turned around, and noticed that he'd somehow been teleported into another lab. The air felt more processed as well, a slight metallic tang to it.

Around him were plenty of smaller consoles, some with gadgetry attached, and others with Lantean symbols scrolling across. Something felt _very_ odd indeed.

Just as Daniel was about to exit the room to look around, he felt the entire room shake suddenly as if rocked by a tidal wave. Atlantis was _massive_ so anything that could move it was likely _very_ dangerous.

Seeing a likely looking console near the center of the lab, Daniel interfaced with it and tapped on the control panel. It was strange; the language displayed was Lantean instead of the English the expedition had translated. He noted one symbol that said "Voice Interface" so he tapped it, hoping to get information faster.

His radio only gave static, so Daniel knew things were likely very wrong. "Hello?"

The computer chimed and a pleasant voice replied. "_Voice Interface online. Local Datastream available."_

Daniel furrowed his brow. "Datastream?"

"_Widenet Datastream currently unavailable, combat conditions persist."_

_That_ got Daniel's attention, "Combat? What's going on?"

The screen changed to a map that showed something that looked oddly like Atlantis in orbit, along with about a dozen white dots and three or four red dots. Daniel could hardly read the print, as it seemed to be a dialect of Lantean he hadn't come across. Almost like a military code. "Uhh… what does this mean?"

"_Unable to respond. Query not understood. Would user like to see live feed?"_

Shrugging, Daniel nodded to himself. "Sure."

Instead of the screen changing, the floor itself suddenly seemed to lose its opacity and became translucent. Instinctively Daniel leapt up onto the table and gasped at the sight below him.

He'd once traveled to Toronto, Canada and stood on the glass floor of the CN tower. This felt ten times worse.

Below him, Daniel watched as what looked like a Lantean Warship in the distance fired a swarm of drones amid yellow laser fire. Small explosions dotted the space around them and his view shifted as the ship he was on maneuvered.

The drones spread out into a star formation, and Daniel felt awed as he saw the drones converge from all sides on a Wraith Hive, peeling the hull like some kind of play-doh mold and lighting up the skies with the resulting explosions.

Moving again, the view through the transparent floor moved and now showed a green and blue planet… and almost two dozen craft burning in orbit. Wraith Darts flew around intercepting drones, running kamikaze runs, and causing mayhem for the Lantean warships.

Daniel only recognized the Aurora class ships, but there were at least 3 other types, most of them smaller, but all damaged and some even nothing more than burnt out husks of metal.

After seeing the Hive get literally shredded like a pineapple, Daniel questioned exactly how so many Lantean ships could have been destroyed. He watched in awe as more drones flew around, all surrounded by yellow laser fire burning the skies.

Two more hives came into view, both firing dozens of turrets off to the side. What they were shooting at was unknown, but it took mere moments for the new swarm of drones to perforate the pair of hives in a helix flight path; both ships listed to the side before tearing apart from the sudden lack of structural integrity.

Finally finding his voice, Daniel could hardly whisper. "Where am I?"

The datastream replied. "Lantean Warship _Thor_. Currently in orbit of Elyssia Shipyards."

Daniel couldn't believe it. So many questions and not nearly enough answers. "Elyssia?"

The view underneath Daniel shifted again, and the view of the Atlantis shaped object he'd seen earlier became clear. _"Oh my…"_ In orbit of the planet, was a space station that looked like the snowflake bottom of Atlantis. It was burning up and slowly tearing itself apart under its own gravimetric forces. Burning husks of ships dotted his vision, more than Daniel had ever seene before. "Wha… What is that?"

The computer answered in a disturbingly cheerful voice. "_Object currently in view is the Elyssia Shipyards. Their shield generator has been overloaded and damage is extensive. LWS Thor is currently moving to assist survivors."_

Now realizing that he was somewhere _very_ dangerous, Daniel had to try and figure out _when_ he was. "What… what time is this? What _year_ is it?"

"_Time is currently 1357 Standard Galactic, Year is currently sixty five million three hundred and twenty one thousand and twenty post exodus, Currently ninety ninth year of the Wraith-Lantean War." _Doing the figures in his head from what he'd learned in the Atlantis database, Daniel figured out when he as. _"OH crap…"_

He was ten thousand years in the past… and even worse, at the very end of the Wraith Lantean war… the war the Lanteans lost.

* * *

Twenty minutes had passed until Daniel finally figured out how to close the viewscreen below him. Whether it was just a screen or the metal itself had become transparent was unknown to him.

Ten thousand years. Daniel had done the time travelling thing before but this was _ridiculous!_ He'd spent now almost three minutes trying to get the ball in his hands to work again, because it HAD to be what got him here. But it seemed it was out of power or just wasn't working since he remained where he was, on the Lantean Warship _Thor._

As amusing as memories of the old Asgard friend of his was, getting back to his own time seemed a little more important.

"Hey! Who are you?" Daniel turned, and was unbelievably glad that he was wearing a mix of Traveler clothing that seemed oddly reminiscent of the Lantean fashion. The Lantean before him held a small basket of tools and gave him an odd look. "Civilians are not allowed on this deck."

Daniel quickly thought of all the old movies he'd been watching since getting into Hoag's object. There _had_ to be a way of getting out of this. In the end, he decided to just go with a classic. "Uhh, I'm not a civilian. My name is… Olo... Hans Olo. I'm here under orders from…" now thinking of the most Lantean name he could, ironically, the Olim were the first to come to mind. "… Aulus! I'm here under orders from Aulus Centaurus to um… assess the situation."

The Lantean blinked twice before nodding idly. "Oh… very well… I have not heard of Commander Centaurus but with all the crew changes… What rank do you hold?"

Panic was setting in now. Daniel instantly opened the Lantean dictionary in his mind and for the first time, drew a complete blank. So he pulled a page from the Jack O'Neill portion of his mind. "That's classified actually. But I'm not intruding on any ship operations."

The technician seemed more confused than anything else, but he seemed to be buying the explanation, even if it was just out of fear that Daniel might be telling the truth. "Oh… You mean…" the fear in the man's voice became clear. "You don't mean…' He gulped. "_Oh ascended ancestors_… you're an operative assistant aren't you?"

Before Daniel could say anything to explain, the technician held a hand up as he retreated. "Wait! I'm…"

Shaking his head vehemently, the technician retreated. "No no! I'll forget I saw you! No one will know you're here!"

The door closed behind the timid technician, and Daniel groaned to himself. Even though he wouldn't be born for another ten thousand years give or take a few decades, he could still feel Jack's vaunted laughter at this situation.

Rubbing his face, Daniel realized that he'd have to leave this room eventually, and find someway of getting back. The technician seemed to think he was a Lantean so Daniel decided to try and play that part up. He looked to the computer and continued asking questions. "Computer, who uses this lab?" It seemed like a good question. The ball had brought him here for a reason so it made sense to ask.

The computer replied in its cheerful voice. "_Lab is currently designated general use. No specific scientist or technicians have been allocated this space."_

Daniel growled irritably. There goes that possible solution. "Do you have any idea where whoever uses this lab might be?"

"_All scientists and technicians have been recalled to the planet for repair of ground component of the Elyssia Shipyards. Gateship transportation has been requisitioned from LWS Tria. LWS Aurora and surviving gateships from LSS Elyssia."_

Technicians and Scientists… _Someone_ had to know how this ball worked. Daniel pocketed it quickly and looked to the computer one last time. "Uhh, could you show me a map of how to get to those gateships?"

The screen changed and showed a map of the craft. The blue of the ship outlined the red path Daniel had to take. "_Hanger is 2 levels below and directly to the stern of the craft."_

Blowing a sigh, and once again cursing time travel, Daniel left the lab in the direction of the hanger. By gods or ancestors or whatever the hell the Lanteans worshipped, Daniel was going to figure a way out of this mess if it killed him… Hmm, maybe watching the Simpsons to reminisce about Earth wasn't the _smartest_ thing to do…

* * *

"If you're heading down to the planet, form up and go where you're told! Gateships have maximum of 16, Troop Transports Maximum of 50!"

Daniel tried his best to look inconspicuous, but he realized that given the situation devolving around him, it wouldn't be difficult. It had been almost an hour and a half now since leaving the lab and quite a few close encounters. "Hans Olo" would be a name that might be passing through the ranks in the next few days.

A troop transport would be the best thing to get on, as it was so large that he'd blend in well, but with all the shoving and people screaming, Daniel didn't know if he was coming or going anymore.

The hanger was larger than the one on Daedalus, and looked oddly reminiscent of the hangers on Atlantis. Daniel had gotten used to flying a Jumper now but to actually meet real pilots from the Lantean era… John would have loved this. Sam and Alicia too.

Their behavior was the exact opposite he'd always thought about the Lanteans though. He'd read the report Elizabeth Weir had written about her older self that they'd found in that first year, and how she'd explained how those last few days in Atlantis were.

It suddenly struck Daniel, and he cursed himself for not thinking about it earlier. Janus wasn't the only scientist the Lanteans had; someone else could have designed this time travel ball…

If that's what it even was. Daniel couldn't help but notice that no one was questioning his appearance, his presence, or even the fact that he had the ATA gene therapy rather than naturally. The Olim had figured it out right off the bat, what made the Lanteans so different?"

He didn't have a chance to think any further as he was shoved forward and a Lantean soldier in rather heavy looking armor waved at him. "Alright! Gateship 3, you're first on, go go go!"

Unwilling to ask anything, Daniel simply nodded and moved forward, he stepped into the gateship, and he hesitated as to where to sit. He stood there for a moment before the pilot yelled. "Get up here! Take the passenger seat so everyone else can get in!"

At least he was being given clear and concise orders. It was such an odd change from life on Earth and in Hoag's object. Daniel did as he was told and sat down next to the pilot

She was a smaller woman, 'cute' was the easiest and most accurate way to describe her. Her slight features and smooth movements as she readied the jumper for flight reminded Daniel of Janet Fraiser for a moment. This woman seemed much more… serious though.

It was odd. She didn't look like the kind of woman who was serious. Daniel could see the beginning of laugh lines, but the unemotional face she had was so strange that Daniel could tell without even knowing her.

She turned to Daniel and sighed. "You're a human?"

Daniel resisted gulping and knew that lying was only going to get…

Well that's just it. What did the Lanteans do to their prisoners? "Yes. I uhh… I've been studying for… ascension." It seemed a plausible story, he knew plenty about the subject and there _were_ humans who'd studied it. Daniel recalled John telling him of his experience in the Time Dilation field.

The female pilot turned back to see more people piling in, and the 16th of them shutting the hatch. "Get anywhere with that?"

Daniel turned and looked at the woman; she was being half serious with the rather personal question. Daniel tried to think of a proper answer, something that would help his case, yet not give away that he'd been ascended… twice. "Sort of.. it's… complicated."

The woman smirked sadly and pushed the Jumper into flight. The small craft passed through the airtight shielding of the craft and out into the cold expanse of space. She didn't say anything as the jumper flew through along the orbit of the planet, heading down towards a large expanse of land.

Daniel noticed a few others ships flying about, but none were heading to the planet or to the remaining Lantean ships. In fact, they almost seemed to be just hovering about.

The pilot noticed Daniel peering out the windows and grunted her answer. "Recovery ships."

Turning with a curious face, Daniel made a quizzitive sound.

The pilot turned to Daniel with a more hardened face, the kind of face Daniel had seen on Jack, John, and on occasion even Sam. "Those are recovery ships… cleaning the orbit of the bodies that…" her voice caught for a moment, and she had to compose herself. "… that were decompressed."

It was a horrible and heartrending fact, and Daniel now wished he hadn't been so curious. Earth had never been involved in space combat to the degree that bodies were a concern in space. But Daniel knew that the Wraith had thousands of crew on a hive… the Lanteans must have as well.

Daniel planned to remain quiet for a moment, but the pilot had other plans. "Where do you come from?"

Thinking quickly, Daniel recalled the last planet he heard about in Pegasus. "Uhh… Proculus."

The woman snickered softly, and angled the Jumper down into the atmosphere. "You don't look like a Proculan. When were you last there?"

Daniel decided to be honest… sort of. "About six months… Don't think I'll be heading back anytime soon."

"What's your name?"

Hans Olo didn't seem like the best answer this time. This woman seemed much more… attentive. "Daniel… My name is Daniel."

The woman seemed to become pensive, and Daniel couldn't help but think that she was actually _trying_ to talk to him. Almost as if it were something she needed to do rather than wanted. "That's an interesting name… I've never heard it before. What does it mean?"

That caught Daniel off guard. Very rarely did anyone ever realize that names did indeed having meanings. "It means.. 'God is my Judge.' " For a few short seconds, Daniel suddenly felt that age old feeling of melancholy. He knew his parents were very literate, and likely chose his name for a reason. 'God is my judge' almost felt proper for him… a gentle man who'd done so much he felt shame for in his life. It was a jarring epiphany to realize that yes, one of the only ways Daniel could keep going was to leave the judgment of his own life to a higher power.

The woman cocked her head slightly, and the sound of breathing through her nose mimicked a sigh. "Well then Daniel… tell me… do you appreciate all the Lantean race has sacrificed for you? For your people?"

Shocked out of his stupor, Daniel realized that this woman wasn't just melancholy about the situation, she was resentful. Daniel had often wondered how the Lantean/Human relations were during this time, and in a way he was glad to get a look at it. Only now he saw that history did indeed have a way of repeating itself.

He'd asked Larrin and a few other Traveler Captains about what they knew of this time. There were few sketchy details, but the one clear thing was that while most of the Lanteans were revered as almost god-like figures, the ones that didn't were very personable, some even friendly. So Daniel replied in the only answer he felt was right. "Yes. I do appreciate it. I don't see how I could possibly _not _appreciate it."

The pilot scrutinized Daniel for a few moments, but seeing no deception, she turned back to the HUD and set the autolanding sequence. "Good."

Finally silence reigned on the Jumper. Daniel could hear a few gentle sobs from behind, all repressed, everyone feeling a sense of loss that Daniel couldn't even begin to comprehend.

In his own mythology, _Elysium_ was the final resting place for the heroes and virtuous of the time.. .Looking around at the shattered husks of Lantean Warships, and even more, the still burning snowflake city in the sky… Daniel now understood where the words meaning came form.

It was unbelievably moving, Daniel was here, when history was unfolding before his very eyes. He'd queried the computers on Atlantis for more information on the Wrath-Lantean war, and the most he was able to get was technical readouts, battle damages, and all very mundane military claptrap. Sitting here in a Jumper with people who lived in this time, possibly even fought and died in this time, was one of the most spellbinding moments of Daniel's life.

If only he knew a way to get back.


	26. Tempus Fugit Second Third

**A/N:** It has recently come to my attention that not everyone gets "Tempus Fugit"

So..

Tempis = Time (e.g. TEMPoral)

Fugit = Flies, Flees (e.g. FUGITive.)

Thank you for reading all :)

* * *

An alarm began to beep on the Jumper HUD, and for a moment, Daniel worried. Seeing the pilot calmly tap a button and bring up what then appeared to be a list, Daniel realized it was just a transmission. The pilot quietly ran through the list, a list that Daniel realized was a casualty list as he noted names passing by. Dozens, hundreds, possibly even thousands of names.

Not to pry, Daniel forced his eyes away from the list, they were about fifteen minutes away and Daniel had to plan. He had to figure out someway of getting to someone, most likely Janus, who was probably back on Atlantis… Somehow, he had to get back there in order to figure out a way home.

A sound suddenly drew Daniel's attention. The pilot next to him had just taken a sharp breath through her nose, her face quivered ever so slightly. It was an expression Daniel had seen before as well... one of loss.

She tapped another button and refocused on piloting the craft. She shut the auto-pilot off and resumed manual control. Daniel didn't feel right just sitting there though. It was painfully obvious the woman next to him was in great pain and the empathy Daniel felt was too much. "Someone you knew?"

The woman was still sniffling softly and nodded. "Too many."

It wasn't easy for Daniel to sit there watching the pilot of this jumper coming undone. He'd always expected the Lanteans to be very calm and controlled about even this sort of thing. In a way, Daniel had bought the propaganda that the Lanteans and Alterra were… _godly._

Seeing that there was nothing Daniel could say that could possibly make her feel better, he took a moment to buck up his courage and reached across.

The woman was surprised by Daniel's hand on her shoulder, but she didn't fight it. She turned to Daniel and with her eyes alone said what her voice couldn't.

Daniel gave her a soft squeeze, then nodded idly. He'd learned from Teyla how much a simple gesture like a hug, or even a hand of support could mean to someone in a bad situation. He'd seen how Sam felt so reassured while she lay near death after her surgery, John simply holding her hand. Daniel remembered how Teyla had stayed by his side during those final hours in Pegasus, simply remaining close.

He broke the contact before it became awkward, and he took some small pride in the small smile that formed on the woman's face. Jack might have teased him at this point, but sometimes Daniel's thing about Alien Women came in handy.

The continuing flight was uneventful, and finally after another twelve minutes the jumper landed on a makeshift pad next to a damaged city. Smoke rose through the skies and gave the planet a very strange, clouded look.

Once it touched down, the aft hatch opened up and the people in the Jumper left in a somewhat calm fashion. They were all technicians or scientists and knew what they had to do. Daniel had just begun to think of how he was going to get out of this situation and to Atlantis to find Janus when the pilot spoke up. "Wait! Daniel…"

Feeling worried yet again, Daniel relented. "Umm yes?"

The shortish woman got up and pursed her lips. She wrung her hands together in front of her then spoke softly. "Listen… I know we've just met… and you have no idea who I am…"

Daniel internally groaned, and prayed to the gods that would listen that Teyla never found out about this.

The woman could see Daniel was going to remain silent, so she continued. "… I'm heading to the ceremony and… and I was wondering if you could accompany me."

She seemed more ashamed to be asking than intrigued with Daniel, so maybe Teyla wasn't going to hurt him when he got back.

That didn't mean Daniel was about to go somewhere with an unknown. "…I uhh… I make it a habit of knowing the names of the people I travel with."

The woman smiled, and it was a genuine smile of mirth. She actually began to chuckle despite the death and carnage around her as she stood in the Jumper. "Kiana… My name is Kiana." She took a deep breath, quite taken aback by Daniel's witty question. "So will you accompany me Daniel?"

Nodding gently, and realizing that it'd be better to have a friend than not, he smiled as he stepped back. "Yeah, yeah I'll come with you."

Whatever this ceremony was, it was probably some aspect of Lantean culture he'd love to know about… but there was an edge to the thought, this… 'Kiana' obviously felt it was an important event, so Daniel knew there was going to be some kind of shoe that was waiting to drop on him.

* * *

Kiana was quiet, simply walking alongside the beaten path leading Daniel to the "Ceremony". Daniel couldn't help but notice how she looked around, admiring the great tree trunks that dotted the terrain. Their mighty boughs and branches towered above them providing some small degree of shade and cover.

Checking himself, Daniel realized that being a part of the SGC for so long had turned him into something more like a soldier. Perhaps not a full-blown warrior, but seeing trees as cover and shade instead of life and potential building materials was a jarring realization to him.

What looked like a sunken amphitheater was ahead, not 50 feet away. Dozens of people were assembled here, and from what Daniel could tell, most were military. Their armored vests and pinned ranks spoke to just how important this 'ceremony' was.

Kiana took a position by the edge of the amphitheater. She let out a soft sigh as she looked around the people there. The ceremony had already started, and someone was singing a strangely melancholy song in the center of the amphitheater.

Turning to him, Kiana kept her voice soft. "Have you lost anyone close to you, Daniel?"

Pain was something Daniel was keenly aware of. He'd lost so many people in his life that… that it really meant the world to him those who were nearby. He'd long ago realized that one of the things that kept SG1 together so well was the feeling of family, the bonds that grew between them through pain and suffering… and the sweet embrace of victory. "Yes… many."

Kiana bit her lips, idly listening to the crowd softly chant what Daniel now realized was a funeral dirge. She continued whispering. "Someone you loved?"

Daniel found himself thinking of Sha're, about Jack, and even in some small way about Vala…. Something that he found unexpected. As much as Vala annoyed him, maybe deep down he really did know she cared. And he cared about her as well. Added to the dozens he'd lost over the years, and Daniel felt that maybe in some small way, he understood the pain the Lanteans must be feeling. "Too many."

Kiana seemed to empathize with him as well, and in the intensity of the moment Daniel found that he was crying. It was so strange; he didn't know any of these people, he had no idea how many had died or what the circumstances were, but he felt his very soul weep for the loss around him, the cold hard fact that this was a losing war.

And through it all, Daniel still found comfort thinking of his family. Sam was the sister he never knew he needed, and over the past year, he'd learned to open his heart to someone who felt much the same way as he did. Teyla was not a replacement for Sha're, but rather a woman all her own that made Daniel realize that time may be infinite, but _he_ wasn't.

John had slowly become a good friend. The man definitely wasn't what Daniel was used to, but in the end he could see that John meant well, and even more, the care he showed for Sam was something Daniel appreciated. That same care extended to everyone around him, everyone on Atlantis.

Looking at Kiana, he realized that she must have lost someone close to her, someone she maybe even loved. Drawing from his own experiences, Daniel spoke almost offhandedly. "It's moments like these when you realize that you don't have forever, and you have to make due with the time you have, doing everything that you can." He turned to Kiana, who was also crying. She met his gaze for a moment. "Live each moment like it was your last… because you never know when it will be."

Smiling at him, Kiana sighed as she wiped her face and nodded. "I forget that… we all forget until it's too late." She turned back to the crowd, and after a moment shot up as she saw something. "_Great ancestors…" _Turning to Daniel and took both of his hands. "Daniel… I thank you. You… You say things I haven't heard in…" She chuckled to herself and wiped her face with her forearms bashfully. "…I don't think I've ever heard them."

Daniel could see she'd seen someone she recognized, and smiled back. "I'm glad I could help."

Kiana nodded and leaned forward to give him a small kiss on the cheek. Daniel blushed a bit in response, but that was just how he was. Kiana let go of him and waved. "Goodbye Daniel… I'm glad I met you. May the ascended watch over you."

She moved off, and Daniel soon lost sight of her in the crowd, whoever she had seen would remain a mystery to him.

He hung around, watching as the ceremony moved on. It seemed a simple thing honestly, a young woman at the helm still singing soft eloquent tones, the people around simply standing and a few talking. If anything, this seemed to be a precursor to something even bigger.

Daniel sighed as he looked around; seeing the somber faces reminded him of those last few months in Pegasus. He did _not_ want to live out the rest of his life in this place no matter how much a student of history he was. If only he could…

And then it happened. Daniel spotted him. He was moving in the crowd, his thin form slowly and gracefully slaloming as he went. The pictures in the Atlantis database didn't do him justice, and yet, as the man came nearer to Daniel, he noticed that he didn't look at all like his picture… simply because of the scowl on his face. "Janus?"

Daniel regretted it the instant he said it. _How_ could he possibly figure out some way of explaining how he knew him. To his surprise though, Janus turned to him with a strange face. "Leave me be, Human. I wish to be alone."

It was so strange; everything Daniel had ever heard about Janus made him out to be a friendly and understanding person. The terseness of the reply he'd just gotten was… _disturbing._

Daniel had just turned back to the center stage when Janus' voice came back clearly, less terse but more... _surprised. "Wait!_" Turning, Daniel could see that Janus was looking at him with a somewhat surprised expression. "I _know_ your face."

Panic finally crept into Daniel's mind. How the _hell_ could Janus know him? "Ummm no. We've never met before. I just recognized you from umm… _pictures."_

Janus let out a single scoffing laugh, then moved forward to face off. "No. I have seen your face before… or rather _you_ will se _my_ face _after_."

Daniel was never one for temporal physics, but he thought he understood. "So you… know?"

Janus nodded, and with a swift motion, removed his glove and took Daniel's hand in his. He squeezed once sharply. "Yes… yes…" Janus let go, and replaced his glove, motioning for Daniel to remain calm. "You carry our bloodlines, yet it is not yours. You do realize in how much danger you're in?"

Unsure, Daniel simply nodded

Janus nodded once and looked up on stage. "We will stay for Atreus' final words… but you must not be seen by the Venators or the Operative."

"Should we stay? I mean…."

Janus gave him a stronger glare. "My greatest virtue is my infinite patience. You would do well to learn the same."

Maintaining the glare, Janus silenced any opposition on Daniel's part. Daniel remained quiet as the ceremony around them continued.

This was not at all what Daniel had expected. From Weir's report, Janus was actually a decent man with a morality much like his own. Maybe this was just a bad moment.

The singing ended a few moments after, and the young woman on stage stepped down effortlessly. A rather large and imposing man in heavy armor that reminded Daniel of the Alcaeus armor back in Hoag's Object, except that this was very clearly a solid suit, stepped up and took his position at the center of the stage.

He was wearing a heavy helmet that obscured his face, and after standing silently for a few seconds, he reached up and took the helmet in both hands. Twisting, he broke the seal on it and lifted it up over his head. _"Oh my…"_

Janus growled softly, warning Daniel to be silent. But Daniel himself was rather taken aback at the sight before him. Sure the eyes were a different color, and he was a little more haggard looking, but for all intents and purposes this Colonel Atreus was the mirror image of John Sheppard, even the messy hair!

Atreus raised his head to the group and spoke in a familiar tone, something that Daniel had almost been expecting. "You all know me. I am Colonel Atreus Hippaforalkus, Son of General Hippaforalkus and Venator Commander." The man sighed softly, and his voice lowered in tone despite remaining powerful. "I am prepared to die. I have been prepared to die for longer than some of you have been alive…"

Daniel couldn't help but notice that it sounded suspiciously like someone he knew. "He wouldn't happen to have family back on Atlantis would he?"

Janus half-scoffed and half-laughed. "Atreus has made _quite_ sure that his lineage will continue."

On stage, the armored man continued. "… I know that I will not survive this war, and when that day comes, I will not be mourned in the same manner as we mourn today." Again taking a breath, the man seemed bothered by what he was saying. "Today we mourn those who were _not_ ready to die. Those who fought for the right to live free, to save those who _cannot _fight."

Daniel now realized what Atreus was saying. The horrors of war were universal.

Atreus continued. "…The true casualties of war are not those who are ready to die. We lay down our lives willingly. The true casualties of war are those who die needlessly, and it is they we remember on these Elyssian Plains." Atreus silenced, and after a moment he replaced the helmet on his head and silently moved off.

Daniel could see many of the people were moved by the words of the Colonel and Venator… whatever that meant. Daniel turned to Janus and could see a strange look of resentment on his face. Janus turned to him and motioned with his head. "Come… my lab on the Aurora will suffice for our needs."

Janus turned and moved off without even bothering to see if Daniel followed. Seeing that he didn't have much a choice, Daniel fell into line.

* * *

"Wow, this is… "

Janus waved his hand over a crystal on the table and the lights dimmed except for the ambient ones. "…Different than what you expected?"

Looking around at the odd devices lying around on several tables, and the relative messiness of the room, Daniel shrugged. "You could say that." He turned to Janus who moved towards a console. "How do you know who I am?"

Janus turned on the console and a little warning bleeped a few times before he shut it off. "That is an interesting story, one which I believe you will come to cherish for many years."

Blinking at the odd way Janus replied, Daniel sat down on a chair nearby to get off his tired feet. "Is riddle speak a part of Lantean culture?"

A snorting laugh, and Janus turned to Daniel as he pulled something out of his pack. "We will discuss that later when I return." The object became clear, an Ancient handgun. "For now, you'll remain here."

Before Daniel could say anything in his defense, the blue bolt of stunning energy flew out from the force baton and sent him into the bliss of unconsciousness.

* * *

It hadn't been the first time Daniel had been stunned, and as the haziness in his vision slowly returned, something told him it wouldn't be the last.

He shook his head, and a second later the smell of some satisfying food shot him awake. Daniel looked around and saw Janus sitting across the table from him, working on a console. A plate of food with a drink next to it was beside Daniel.

Seeing nothing threatening him, and even more, he hadn't been tied down or had his clothes exchanged _(Whenever that happened he __always__ felt dirty) _so Daniel remained relatively civil. "Do you always stun your guests?"

Janus didn't even bother to look up from his console as he replied. "When they can create temporal paradoxes, yes…. Yes I do."

Seeing that Janus wasn't going to give even an inch, Daniel stretched his arms and groaned. "Can I at least get up?"

Still not looking up, Janus nodded. "Do not leave the room, or else…."

Daniel waved the accusation off. "Yes yes yes… time paradoxes… probably destroy the entire universe…" Feeling more than a little snarky, Daniel recalled an old movie. "…or would the destruction be more localized? Limited to merely this galaxy?"

To this, Janus lifted his head and raised an eyebrow. "For someone who should not exist, you are surprisingly verbose."

Looking around again, Daniel noted that the lab had been cleaned up, and even more, he had no clue how long he'd been out. "Okay… can I at least ask where you went?"

"No."

This was getting ridiculous, Daniel finally couldn't take anymore and he moved over to face Janus. "Alright, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this…" as he reached into his pocket, Daniel noticed that the little metal ball was gone. He patted himself down and noticed that it was the only thing missing.

Janus smirked and with a slight of hand, began tossing the ball up and down almost playfully. "Looking for this?" Janus held it between his fingers and sighed. "I always wondered where I left this thing."

Grumbling, Daniel decided to be more forward and began to pick at the plate of food, which was obviously meant for him. "So you _did_ build it?"

Janus nodded, and sighed as he put the ball in a small holder in front of him. "Yes… one of my first experiments in gravimetric space time manipulation."

Fully enjoying eating meat once more, Daniel sat down and tried to be civil. "Time Travel?"

Janus smirked deviously, almost as if he found the term funny. "In a sense."

Daniel smiled back, suddenly feeling offended. "Alright I get it, it's complicated. Now since you obviously know I'm not supposed to be here, I'm guessing you're trying to figure out a way to send me back."

"I've considered it."

Now Daniel stopped being so civil. "_Considered_ it?" I thought I was supposed to be this walking time bomb that could destroy the universe?"

Mockingly, Janus replied. "Or just this localized area, limited from merely this galaxy to the Occulus Galaxy."

Resisting the urge to argue, Daniel rubbed his hands together and breathed in and out. "Alright… let's start over. Hi, I'm…"

Janus sat up straight and looked at Daniel with a cocked head expression. "…Doctor Daniel Jackson, you come from the late 20th century in your own planet's time and know much more of my culture and people than some learn in a lifetime."

Daniel pursed his lips for a second and then replied with a raised finger. "Wasn't going to say it like that, but yes. Which leads me to…"

Again, Janus interrupted. "How would I, a being who lived ten millennia before you were even conceived know so much of you?" Again, Janus continued before Daniel could say anything. "The simple answer is, I have met you, and yet I have not met _you."_

Befuddled, Daniel finally saw his chance to speak. "Well if you know so much about me, what's my zodiac sign?" Janus simply glared at Daniel. "Alright alright, so you've _met_ me… but not me? I'm guessing it'd be in _my_ future?"

Janus shook his head. "You said nothing of this meeting."

Again, Daniel was confused. "Maybe you told me not to so we don't blow up the universe?"

Janus smiled, this time genuinely amused. "No, you were quite forthcoming. I can only conclude that you are not the Daniel Jackson I met."

"This is supposed to be the simple answer?" Daniel saw that Janus wasn't going to reply to that, so he simply continued. "Care to explain that?"

With the same smile, Janus shook his head. "No. But I do need you to answer my questions precisely and promptly."

Daniel sighed dejectedly. "I thought your patience was infinite."

Rolling his eyes, Janus replied in a slightly mocking tone. "Yes, well I've learned that space and time are infinitely circular, so eventually it loops back on itself and we end up back where we started. So answer my questions and I shall see if indeed I can get _you_ back to where _you_ started."

Feeling the need to scream, Daniel simply let his head fall to the table in relention as he balled his fists. "You're not at _all_ what I thought you'd be."

For the first time, Janus actually laughed out loud. "Different or not, you remain the same."

The headache only got worse.


	27. Tempus Fugit Third Third

The questions had actually turned out to be relatively easy, it seemed that Janus was a bit curious as to how Atlantis had ended up in Hoag's Object, but for the most part he was curious about the state of affairs in Pegasus.

Thankfully Janus had answered Daniel's questions as well, and he had many things to archive when he got home to Hoag's Object. Daniel had actually stopped and thought about it for a minute, considering Atlantis no matter where it was home.

Daniel had just finished telling Janus of the Asurans and the final battle of Pegasus when he noticed that Janus was hardly paying attention anymore, now walking about his lab examining several devices. "Janus? Are you listening?"

Janus nodded. "I have heard enough. And I require time to think."

Daniel scratched his chin, and decided to mention some of his own thoughts. "Yes, well, I've had some time to think myself. What if you send me back earlier? We can prevent Pegasus from being lost. We might even be able to eliminate the Wraith before we even meet the Asurans."

With his face turned away, Janus mused. "I can destroy the Wraith right now, and truthfully there would be little to stop me if I so wanted."

_This _was news to Daniel. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Janus shook his head and turned an angered face to him. "We've had this argument before… though ironically our positions were reversed. Tell me Doctor Jackson…. Why should I send you earlier to prevent your own catastrophe, when I could simply change your history by preventing my own holocaust?"

The question caused Daniel to stop for a second; it was something he hadn't considered before. "I… I don't know. But positions reversed? What positions?"

Janus grunted and leaned on the table. "I don't know why either. After the ceremonies today… I question why I…" Janus took a deep breath, and after a moment he turned to Daniel. "Never mind. I will send you back as soon as the device on the _Thor_ is brought to me."

Not liking that he'd just sidestepped the chance of avoiding potentially millions of deaths, Daniel persisted. "Wait, seriously, do you have a way to defeat the Wraith?"

Without any hesitation, Janus simply looked at Daniel and nodded. "Yes."

It was dumbfounding, the death Daniel had seen today was astounding, it didn't make logical sense for Janus to say what he was saying, there had to be more. "But then…"

Janus growled and moved to the table where a device shaped like a lopsided box lay. "….Why do I not implement it? Simple. In destroying the Wraith, I would sacrifice those I wish to protect." Seeing that Daniel was confused, Janus muttered something to himself and then explained. "Tell me Daniel. If it meant the end of the Wraith, would you sacrifice ten percent of the life in this galaxy?"

A shiver went down Daniel's spine as he replied. "What!? No! God how could you ask me that?"

"I ask because I've been asking myself that question six fold for the past two days!" Janus's voice rose in anger. "I ask because I no longer know _why_ I keep saying no! My people _die_ everyday, our very lives are being ripped from our bodies by those infernal demons and for what? For a pack of miserable humans who in ten thousand years could lose this galaxy anyway?"

Unsure of what to say, Daniel decided to glean some more knowledge. "…You said you could stop the Wraith…. How?"

Janus sighed tersely and patted the box. "It is very complicated and I do not wish to explain it to you again, but tell me, have you ever wondered what would happen if an Astria Porta lost its safeties?"

Extrapolating for a second, Daniel recalled some rather nasty moments in the SGC records. "Actually, I don't need to, I've seen it happen. But what does that have to do with the Wraith?"

"It would take years for my device to eliminate the Wraith entirely. And in that time, I project that approximately sixty percent of the Astria Portas in this galaxy would suffer the same fate."

Knowing just how many planets in Pegasus had Stargates, and the level of devastation an overloading stargate could cause, Daniel was more than a little disturbed. "What!? But that's… how could…?"

Janus sighed and looked to Daniel. "And now you see my dilemma. I am of two minds, two faces, and two entirely different potential futures."

Daniel couldn't resist, the sheer paradox was too much and he could feel his head about to explode. "Oh, _you_ of all people being of _'two faces'?_ _Oh,_ the irony… it's so sharp… Ow! _Oh the pain…!_ I'll have to remember to write that one down once I _stop the bleeding._" Seeing that Janus was not amused, Daniel rolled his eyes, resisted his laughter, and continued. "So what, you're just going to let it happen?"

"I already have." Janus looked to Daniel and sighed remorsefully. "I already have and you are the living proof." Janus bowed his head and motioned with his head. "Come, you must memorize as much of this as you can."

Daniel moved over and decided that this was too much. Janus was not at all like he'd considered him and now all that was left was to try and go home… away from this already lost war. "…What is it?"

Janus got up and motioned for Daniel to sit. "My experiments… I have no doubt you will eventually discover my lab in Atlantis, and perhaps if I give you this opportunity, you can avoid a problem of galactic proportions."

Daniel gave Janus a "_Yeah, right"_ look, but Janus gave him a more serious look back. Seeing that, Daniel tried to learn what he could.

* * *

"I am prepared; you should go back to the exact second you left." Janus pulled the ball from the strange device that housed it. The technician that had come was the same one who had seen Daniel before, and he quickly left after the blood in his face drained.

Janus refused to explain much of anything else though, and Daniel has taken his time examining the "Datastream" the Aurora used as a network. The Lantean history archives were open to him and Daniel had to admit, despite the stunning earlier and Janus's behavior, the odd trip he wasn't prepared for had turned out to be worth it. "What will you do?"

Janus sighed and looked away from Daniel. "I… do not know. I must speak with the others… gather my thoughts." He scoffed softly as he rolled the ball in his hands. "Trying to convince me to... 'follow the path'?"

Daniel knew he had to try and convince Janus to keep the timeline the way it was; granted he'd never know the difference, but for some reason he couldn't get the image of Marty McFly's sad faux relief at learning that the galaxy could blow up instead of the entire universe out of his mind.

One thing was still nagging Daniel though, and he'd waited until now to say anything. "When you… _stunned_ me… You said you were going somewhere. Where did you go?"

Janus furrowed his brow and looked down at his feet. Almost like he didn't want to answer. "Saying goodbye."

Seeing that he might be able to appeal to the humanity in Janus, despite him not even being human, Daniel latched on. "If you really knew me… you'd know what I've lost as well…. Losing hope is too easy. It's not what we're meant for,"

Janus cracked his jaw, obviously bothered with the answer. "Take the ball in your hand and concentrate on your own time. Do not bother trying to go somewhere else. I have programmed it for one trip, and one destination. Unless you want your atoms spread across the space time continuum from here to the Occulus Galaxy… You will do as I say."

Daniel nodded, and taking the ball in his hands, began to chuckle to himself. "Click my heels three times?"

To Daniel's shock, as he squeezed the ball and began to concentrate, he could swear he heard Janus's slightly snarky tone. "There _is_ no place like home."

* * *

"…rt, I'm actually glad you convinced me to go."

He was back, he was back! Daniel looked down to Rafaeala who was smiling at him for some… God Daniel didn't even remember what they were talking about! "Ella!" He darted his vision around, checking to see if the universe around him was different in anyway. Patting himself down, everything seemed to be in the right place and the right sizes.

Rafaela could see that Daniel was more than a little surprised to be here. "Uhh… you okay Daniel?"

Daniel looked at all the Traveler technicians and to Rafaela, who now gave him a concerned look. "I think we should put this ball in secure storage."

To his surprise, Sam's voice came from the doorway. "Something wrong Daniel?" She walked in using her crutch unashamedly. "What is it?"

Daniel waited until Sam had gotten closer, and he gave her a strange expression. "I just had the _weirdest_ experience."

With no hesitation, Sam snickered and smiled. "And you were there, and you were there?"

Now giving Sam a sarcastic grin, Daniel handed the ball back to Rafaela who tagged it properly and put it on the desk for secure storage. She continued completely oblivious to any strange happening. "No…" Feeling more than a little disturbed though, Daniel raised his eyebrows as he saw John stroll in, completely unaware of anything happening. By god he _DID_ look just like Atreus! "But you were!"

John stopped mid-stride, his foot dangling in the air as his brow furrowed. "What?"

* * *

"Well… it's definitely an incredible story." Seeing Daniel give her a '_come on' _glare, Sam rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright… _report._ But you've got to admit, you're the only one who saw any difference. We ran a scan of the device and it didn't show any of the typical radiation signatures we see from other time travel devices we've seen."

John smiled sarcastically. "Not to mention Janus just so happened to _forget_ to tell you how it worked."

Daniel shook his head idly and looked around. If he'd had the chance, he'd have loved to see Atlantis back then. "Well he was pretty clear that I wasn't supposed to be there. Really different than the Janus I was expecting to meet."

Sam rubbed her hands and blew a long sigh. "Well… I'd love to hear everything you can remember, as well as your explanation for those devices and this_… 'hidden lab''_ Janus left here." She then smiled. "After lunch." Pushing herself up with her arms, Sam grabbed her crutch and motioned to the two others in her office. "Coming?

Daniel seemed ready to go, but John raised his voice a bit. "In a minute, just give us a second."

Sam furrowed her brow, but decided to be less suspicious than normal because any chance of Daniel and John talking more was a win in her books. "Alright… don't take too long though, I wanted to get the last bits of the ceremony tomorrow worked out over lunch."

Both men nodded, and Sam limped out at a decent pace despite her injury. Daniel watched for a second before turning to John. "What uhh… what's up?"

John gulped and sighed. "Figured I'd tell you now… what you asked before."

Suddenly feeling bad, simply because Daniel had put his nose where he shouldn't have, he held his hands up. "No no no.. John it's okay. God I'm sorry I pried. I know you and Sam are…" Daniel didn't really know how to say it. "…_working things out."_

John groaned softly and palmed his forehead. "No no… you _were _right… but for the wrong reasons. I'm telling you because I know Sam considers you family… and… " John put his hands together and cracked his knuckles. "… and I don't want any games or secrets about this anymore…"

Daniel could see that whatever it was, it was tearing John apart. So he decided to once again be the consoling friend. "Alright."

John rubbed his hands together, and blew a long controlled sigh. "I'm not good at this sort of thing… so I'll just say it. A few days ago… Larrin came to my office and…" John made a few suggestive motions with his head, and Daniel instantly got the idea. "Yeah… yeah but…it was strange. She hardly said anything and… and didn't really let me ask why."

Daniel gulped and realized just what John had been walking about with. "Uhhh… Yikes."

Scoffing. John nodded. "Oh yeah. So… god, I didn't know what to think. Me and Sam weren't… well we hadn't agreed to anything. We still haven't. But… but yesterday… Larrin comes to my quarters…" John's features hardened, recalling what had happened. "She... she tried again. But…" John started chuckling ruefully. "I stopped her. Just… just stopped her.

Daniel was still shocked at what John was admitting. "Okay… waaaay more than I was expecting."

John rubbed the bridge of his nose and chuckled ruefully. "That's not the half of it… she doesn't want to tell me why… but when she finally does… she said she didn't know what else to do. She saw me and Sam get closer and... and she got defensive. She said she didn't want to get closer to me but at the same time..." John outright laughed now at the ridiculousness of the situation. "_She_ didn't know what the hell she was talking about. So what the hell am I supposed to think?" John groaned and rubbed his face with both palms. "But what matters is she did it for _her_, not because she wanted _us._"

Daniel didn't really understand it all, but what he did he simply shrugged because it wasn't his problem. "Sorry I asked. I… I really should have just trusted you."

John nodded idly. "I probably would have told you anyway." Sighing again, John pushed up out of the chair. "Frankly, I _want_ to hate her for doing this. But we've been through too much and… and all I can do is resent her. So if Sam asks… tell her you know, but to ask me. I'll tell her."

Daniel couldn't believe it. This was a completely different John Sheppard that he was used to. "I… Wow."

* * *

"We're gathered here today to remember the lives that were lost a year ago in the Battle of Asuras." Sam began her speech, trying her best not to let the moisture in her eyes become tears. Around her, everyone stood at attention listening as she made her speech on a makeshift podium on the East Pier. "On that day, the Atlantis Expedition lost two hundred and forty seven lives, Marines, Air Force, civilians… they were all people we knew and loved." She paused for effect. "On that day our course was set, and the events that led to us being here today were put into motion. I will never forget the lives lost that day, or the sacrifice they made for us."

Sam then motioned to Larrin who stood beside her, and Sam stepped back into John's gentle clasp, his hand holding her shoulder and squeezing supportively. A part of her wanted to tell him to let go, but she knew that his consolation was as much for himself as it was for her.

Larrin leaned towards the microphone and looked out to the people before her. Every Traveler Captain and the entire council had come out, dozens of others as well, and the entire Expedition lined the podium in their dress uniforms and formal wear. "To a Traveler… we grieve for every life that has been lost since we originally formed at the end of the Wraith War ten thousand years ago. But the 600 lives that we lost in that battle are the most we've lost in…" Larrin paused and bit her lower lip. "…in as far as I can remember. We're safe from the Wraith now, and the Asurans, and all the dangers we've gotten so used to in our lives."

Sam bowed her head, and realized that while the Travelers may feel melancholy over losing lives, they'd also left behind ten millennia of pain. She idly raised her hand and took John's that remained on her shoulder. Without turning she knew he was on the verge of tears, as were just about everyone in the crowd.

Larrin finished her part with a somber tone. "We will never forget their sacrifice… no matter what happens in this galaxy, we will never forget."

She turned, and faced Sam with a sad look. It quickly passed as Larrin looked at the crew around her.

Sam had considered making it only for Asuras, but in a meeting with the rest of the command staff, they'd decided to have a celebration 6 months from now, a celebration of survival and life continued instead of another funeral ceremony.

In a similar manner, members of the expedition began to came up and say a few words. Marks led the charge, his dress uniform neatly pressed and cleaned. "Everyday I'm in this galaxy, everytime I step on the bridge of the _Daedalus_, I honor the lives that were lost that day one year ago." He paused and lowered his head a bit. "I gave up just about everything I held dear to come here. My career was everything... My crew was my family, my planet was my home…" Sighing, Marks ended his tiny speech. "But I don't regret it." He spread his gaze throughout the crowd, finally ending on Katana.

Kevin nodded once, then motioned for the next person. Alicia moved up in her dress uniform as well, her hair tied into a full ponytail.

She looked around and remained silent on the podium for a few moments before speaking softly. "I… I came here because I didn't like what happened in Pegasus." She paused, obviously discontent with her words. "What I mean is, I joined the Air Force to be a part of something greater. And seeing what the IOA and Air Force were going to do… I …" she gulped, now looking up at the spire which dominated the horizon. "I found something even greater." Alicia sniffled once, then continued. "I miss my family. I had a big one. Five brothers and sisters… My mom… she used to tell me. 'No me importa lo que hagas, solo que no tengas verguensa de tus decisions." Alicia smiled and chukled a bit. "That means I shouldn't be ashamed of my choices. And I'm not."

With that final bit, Alicia stepped down from the podium and let the next person go up. Radek walked up and shifted his tie before speaking. "I am here in Atlantis, in this galaxy, because of Rodney McKay. Countless times we would argue, and equally as many times we would agree to disagree." Radek bowed his head, obviously affected. "In times like these… I would give anything to… ro argue with him just once more." Radek took a long breath than ended in a sigh. "I don't regret coming here. And the friendships I've formed are.... are more wholesome than anything I've had before." Radek smiled, and he held his hand to his chest. "I honor the fallen. Those who died in the course of their duty. I will never forget."

Radek stepped down, and to no ones surprise, Mila gave him a big hug as they took their positions.

Carson of all people now walked up, He was in somewhat formal attire, or at least what passed for formal in Traveler Culture. "I didn't choose to come here. I was a victim… just like everyone else." Carson's tone wasn't accusatory, so Sam and John breathed silent sighs of relief. The Doctor was one of the few regrets they had and they were hoping his words would alleviate their souls. "I came back to Atlantis days before we came here, I was dying, for all intents and purposes I _was_ dead."

Sam couldn't take it anymore and turned her face from him. Both Daniel and John stood next to her, supporting the cold hard decisions that she'd had to make that day.

Carson continued. "If I'da had the choice, I probably woulda come. I resented what happened… everything that I didn't know… it all came down and haunted me. But this is still better than how I lived for 2 years." Carson breathed in sharply, obviously getting a little emotional. "for 2 years, I was held by a monster… I still have nightmares. I still wake up and find maself wishing I could walk through that stargate and go home… go to Earth, a place I haven't been in almost 3 years."

None of the expedition was unmoved by Carson's words, it was harsh, it was almost accusatory, but it was the cold hard truth and they all felt shame and guilt over it.

Softening his tone, Carson resumed. "After everything, this place is still better than what I went though. But that's an insult, it's an offense to those people who died a year ago… all those people in Pegasus who didna have a chance because some godforsaken robots and vampire devils decided to fight a war."

Sam suddenly felt a bit of empathy from behind her, and she saw John wince softly before composing himself. She knew he still blamed himself for what happened, but after everything that had happened to them it seemed to get buried in the mountain of his guilt. She silently took his hand and squeezed, forcing herself to look away from his face. Sam could give him her support, but she wasn't ready to share that kind of burden with him.

Now the longest speech so far, Carson still continued with his impassioned voice. "I miss my home. I miss my family. But when I go into that infirmary every day, and I see the faces of all of us, no matter if you're a Traveler, a Pegasus ground native, or even someone from Earth… I see hope. I see something I didna see for what felt like the longest time of me life." Carson sniffled once and breathed out staggeredly. "And I think to myself, maybe this is where I belong. Maybe… maybe we had to lose everything to find out what we really have… and what we're left with."

If someone had a dry eye by now, Sam would have trouble seeing them as human. She felt one of the many weights she carried with her lift, and maybe now she could believe that Carson was willing to forgive her.

Carson finished with a final thought. "I wasn't there a year ago when the massacre happened. And if you'd told me I'd be halfway across the universe, I'da locked you up and given ya one of mah biggest needles." A few muted chuckles, and despite the somber tone, Carson brought back the hopeful tone. "But now that I'm here, I think there's no place, and no people I'd rather be with." He stopped, and a sad look crossed his face. "I really only have one regret… and that's that I couldna say goodbye to my friend Rodney. But I know wherever he is… he knows I miss him."

John sighed and Sam could feel him wince again even if she couldn't see it. She felt the same.

No matter how standard or mundane the words may have appeared as each short speech was given, each person had given it their personal feelings and even more, spoke to their own loss. This was a day of mourning the loss that leaving Pegasus had created.

When the ceremony was nearly over, John himself took the podium, his dress blues neatly pressed, all his ribbons and medals adorning his shirt. "You all know me… My name is Lieutenant Colonel John David Sheppard. I had sworn to uphold the morals and standards of a United States Air Force officer… until those morals conflicted with my own." The man sighed softly, and his voice lowered in tone despite remaining powerful. "For the longest time I was ready to die. A friend of mine… a _good_ friend… my _best _friend, once told me that I had the uncanny ability to walk up to the grim reaper and punch him in the face."

Daniel couldn't help but notice that it sounded suspiciously like someone he'd heard recently. "Sam?"

Sam turned and shushed Daniel. "What, what is it?"

Daniel quirked his face and turned to her. "You'll never believe me."

On stage, the formally dressed man continued. "When I came to Atlantis… I knew I'd come home. No matter where Atlantis is, I'll always be home. I can't tell you the times I was ready to give my life for this place. And I didn't think anything of it." Again taking a breath, John seemed bothered by what he was saying. "Today, we mourn those who were _not_ ready to die. Those who fought for those who _couldn't _fight."

Daniel gulped, and knew that somewhere, improbability had decided to take a washroom break.

John continued. "We've lost so much… and we'll never forget them. We'll always appreciate the loss of those men and women who laid down their lives..." John then turned his head, and looked to where Sam stood with Daniel right beside her. "… so that the rest of us could have a better chance."

Daniel felt Sam sniffle next to him. And now he knew whom they were both thinking of. Despite never meeting the scientist in an official capacity, Daniel still wished he _had._

John turned back to the crowd and lowered his voice, the microphone barely picking up his voice. "I was prepared to die… but I didn't… and I think it'd be an insult to those that _did_ die if I didn't at least try and enjoy what they gave me."

With that, John let go of the podium. He bowed his head and nodded to Sam who moved to the podium.

A few last words, and the ceremony was over. Daniel couldn't help but think that despite the similarities… perhaps history didn't necessarily have to repeat itself.

* * *

**TEASER FOR EPISODE 14  
**

* * *

**Episode 14 – A Cold Day in Hell**

* * *

_212 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Kevin Marks:** Do we have the power to do that?

**Chuck Campbell:** … I have no idea.

**Kevin Marks:** Oi… I'm not letting that thing get away…. Do it!

**Chuck Campbell:** Oh boy… I hereby declare this the _"Frat Boy"_ maneuver.

**Katana Labrea:** _"Frat Boy Manuever?"_

**Laura Cadman:** Uhh I think he means only a drunken idiot would try this.

**Kevin Marks;** I knew there was a reason Sheppard didn't let anyone name anything. Do it!


	28. A Cold Day in Hell First Third

**Episode 14 – A Cold Day in Hell**

**A/N:** _the first part of the episode is being posted waaay early because of Christmas (i.e. I'm gonna be busy as hell) Updates will be slow the next 2-4 weeks, what with Christmas, New Years, and then my birthday all in the space of 30 days I won't be in any condition to write :P Don't expect the next part till late this week at the earliest. (I'm being very teasing by ending the first part where I do :P)_

_**111**, Responding to your review, Welcome to the party!:P glad to know you're enjoying the story. Ronon will have a recurring role for the most part. The next episode touches why he's doing what he's doing actually so you won't have to wait long :P It's been implied so far but you'll get an answer :) Actually i think you might like the next episode quite alot as it has Drake, Dusty, and Ronon in main roles and uhh... as a teaser, we find out a little of Drake's backstory ;)_

_Muchas Gracias to **Neela** and **TheIceMenace** for their mutual betas :) A kudos goes to **Alx** and **Lantean General** as well who i bounced this idea off and they uhh.. Hmmm what did you think? I forget.  
_

_Merry Christmas to all :)_

* * *

_212 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Kevin Marks:** Do we have the power to do that?

**Chuck Campbell:** … I have no idea.

**Kevin Marks:** Oi… I'm not letting that thing get away…. Do it.

**Chuck Campbell:** Oh boy… I hereby declare this the _"Frat Boy"_ maneuver.

**Katana Labrea:** _"Frat Boy Manuever?"_

**Laura Cadman:** Uhh I think he means only a drunken idiot would try this.

**Kevin Marks;** I knew there was a reason Sheppard didn't let anyone name anything. Do it!

* * *

"What's in those crates?"

Kevin shrugged, and resisted moaning from Katana's hands on his shoulders. "Food, maybe some alloys. We gave them some data crystal readers and info on how to build more of them, so…" Feeling Katana's fingers dig into his traps, Kevin couldn't take it anymore and keeled forward slightly. "Do you know what you _do_ to me?"

Katana leaned in over his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Well it's the only time you're not so uptight. Sheppard once said he could turn coal into diamonds if he…"

Already knowing where that was going to go, Kevin spun around and took Katana's hands in his. Partially hidden on the catwalk above the gateroom near the conference room, Kevin and Katana were waiting for the briefing they were called to, to start. "I _know_ what Sheppard thinks… But what do _you_ think?"

Katana chuckled and play-fought Kevin with her fists. "I think I asked around… and your people have a tradition involving diamonds and people you like."

Kevin was more than a little taken aback by the comment. Did she just…? "Uhh… _really? _ Hmm… Are you admitting you like me?"

Clicking her jaw, Katana smiled back defiantly. "If I am?"

Seeing that this wasn't going to go any other way, Kevin smirked back. "Then I guess I'm going to have to do a geological survey. For… _personal _reasons."

As they both chuckled at their odd flirting, someone crept up on Katana from behind. Kevin noticed her but kept quiet and simply tried to keep Katana's attention.

Katana fell for the trap quickly, and before she knew it, Mila's arms and legs were wrapped around her from behind in a piggyback ride. "_Katty!_ Where've you been!?"

Flinging Mila about now in a fun manner, Kevin laughed as Katana tried to get a good hold of the little blond terror attacking her. "Mila! _Let go_ ya little brat! Hahaha!"

Kevin shook his head idly as he laughed at the two women in his life fighting each other. What could be better?

* * *

"The Olim have agreed to a low level trade. Some raw materials, food, and information in exchange for crystal data storage technology and some low tech schematics for now."

Kevin nodded to Sam as she recounted the latest negotiation results. "I saw. We need more Trinium if we want better railgun ammo just in case we run into Shade out there."

The conference room wasn't packed at all, only Kevin, Katana, Larrin, as well as John and Sam sitting at the front. John replied. "Yeah well, they're _stingy_ with anything they feel they can use. I can't say I blame 'em, not like we're giving 'em the good stuff either."

Katana cracked her knuckles as she replied succinctly, "If they're not being cooperative, why even bother with them? It's not like we're incapable of holding out on our own."

Larrin answered this question; she seemed rather annoyed that she even had to be here. "Because like it or not, they know this galaxy better than us. Those Shade are _tough as hell_ and our ships are _not_ equipped to deal with them," Larrin sighed and wrung her hands together. "Our fleet is down to sixteen usable ships, only four of which are refitted with railguns. The rest are getting scrapped for parts because they're just too old."

Sam rubbed her forehead just thinking about it. "The east pier is basically going to be our new machine shop/dry dock/ship yard. I've got an idea for how we can repurpose our beaming technology into a mining tool but it's going to need a lot of testing. I'm not comfortable doing that anywhere near Atlantis."

Kevin motioned his head to gain the floor, saying, "I was going to take _Daedalus_ out with the _Alenko_ and the _Karyan._ Sensors picked up a potential supernova a few hundred light years from here. That system has planets too so… since it's going to blow up anyways, it'd be nice proving ground for this modification."

Sam scratched her chin and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Hmm… that's not a bad idea. But a supernova?"

Kevin held his hand up, reassuring her. "Oh no, last projection was another year. So a year from now we'll have a hell of a fireworks display."

John mused and leaned back on his seat with his hands behind his head. "That doesn't sound too shabby. I'll have to reserve our tickets now."

Katana rolled her eyes and gave Kevin a small look before speaking up. "_In any case…_ we could go and test out that modification. The sooner we can start mining raw materials ourselves the better."

Larrin groaned softly and pumped her fists in front of her on the table. "There is another problem. The captains of the _Sobek_, and the _Navras_ want to leave. The council is advising them to stay and so am I, but they want to go out there and do their own thing. A lot of them are old timers and don't like being on land."

Sam blew a hard sigh and rubbed her face with her palms. "How many?"

"Three hundred and seventy four, mostly old time techs and single people."

John summed it up to a more tangible meaning. "You mean people who can do work. People who can maintain the city and work on all the changes we've got planned."

Larrin gave John a rather annoyed sneer, but nodded. "_Yeah_, people who can _work_. Most of the families are either here in the city, or on the mainland. Of the five thousand we have left, only about two thousand actually want to stay on Atlantis now. About one thousand five hundred wanna go to the mainland and work with Teyla's settlement and the refugees there, and the rest wanna live on ships, but use Atlantis as a base."

Kevin furrowed his brow. "Apart from the _Sobek_ and _Navras_?"

Larrin nodded. "Yeah, the ones who want to live on ships are willing to work to refit their ships with railguns, but the rest are… _disinclined_." She scoffed softly. "Never had to deal with lazy ass people before. Guess not having a Wraith plasma cannon aimed at our heads really makes a difference."

Sam groaned softly and cracked her knuckles; it was obvious she was very frustrated. "Well hopefully we can get them motivated. If we come down to numbers, then the majority of the people here really don't do much. The technical staff with Daniel and Radek are good to work, I know, but how many are willing to accept living on the mainland and being farmers?"

Katana scoffed loudly. "Not many. They'll need a reason to work like that. So far we haven't set up compensation for work, but I think we're going to have to."

John furrowed his brow. "Compensation? You mean work for food." He sighed, quite disgusted with the idea. "I don't like that… but it's true… with this many people we need to have some kind of order."

Kevin winced hard and looked up at the ceiling as the others argued. God he wished he could just go back to _Daedalus_ and take a nap in the quiet hull. It was even quieter in space, and so much more peaceful.

The arguing continued well over an hour, and despite some new proposals being accepted, he still didn't know exactly what he was supposed to do. So when Larrin and Katana had moved off to chat on their own, he stayed with John and Sam to work out exactly what he was to do. "So… how long is it going to take for this modification you mentioned?"

Sam groaned softly as she shifted her body. Her leg was still bothering her a lot, and the crutch nearby spoke to her potential agility. "Not long, it's just a program for the Asgard computer. The miniature core they installed before we came here should be able to handle it from there." Sam shifted again, now slapping her leg slightly as she spoke. Apparently, it had fallen asleep. "Radek says he can build more Asgard tech as soon as we have the raw materials, so with any luck, this modification will work nicely."

John, sitting next to Sam, deadpanned. "It's either that or a really big shovel."

Kevin smirked softly, not at John's lame joke, but rather the irritated face Sam put on before smiling sweetly and turning to him. "John?" She raised her hand and grabbed her ear from the lobe. "Do this for me?" She motioned to her ear grabbing motion.

John furrowed his brow in confusion, but did as he was asked. "Uhhh okay." As soon as John had taken a solid hold of his ear, Sam reached out and tugged that same hand down in turn, yanking on his ear. John yelped in surprise and pain, and looked to Sam indignantly. _"Ow!_ What was that for?"

Sam gave him a deviously innocent grin. "What was what for? You tugged your own ear."

Amidst Sam's small snickers, John turned to Kevin. "See what I have to put up with?"

As strange as it felt to Kevin, seeing his two commanding officers joke and even include him in the teasing was wholesome. He had to admit, it was better than that sheer sexual tension he'd seen between them before. Maybe things were getting better.

* * *

"Chuck? What are _you_ doing here?"

Chuck's smile ebbed a bit, and he gave Kevin a confused expression. As he replied, Laura Cadman walked in as well. "I… was asked to come here… by _you_."

Laura was equally confused as she and Chuck stood next to each other. She still looked a little weak, and she'd lost weight, but overall her health was on the rise. "Me too… got an email and everything with your name on it."

Kevin shook his head. "I didn't send for you." Suddenly realizing what that meant, Kevin turned his head slowly to Katana who couldn't quite hide her smirk. "_Katana_…?"

The named woman turned her head to him and gave a sweet smile. "Yes Kevin?"

Irritated at being called his first name in front of his 'crew', yet at the same time realizing he was guilty of the same crime, Kevin kept his voice civil. "You wouldn't happen to know _why_ the Lieutenant and Captain are here would you?"

Pretending she'd just seen them, Katana moved closer with a sly grin. "Oh I think I may have asked them to come. You really should log-off your computer more often. Never know who might be using it."

Finding himself trapped, Kevin turned to Chuck and Laura, both of whom were on the edge of snickering. "Yes well, it seems our crew just keeps growing." He smiled despite himself and motioned to the bridge. "Take the helm, Chuck." He looked to Laura. "Captain… I'm not sure what you've been cleared on so if you'll enlighten me?"

Laura smirked, and she shrugged nonchalantly. "Chuck's trained me on everything from helm to operations, so it's up to you, sir."

Unsure of where to put her, Kevin hooked his thumb to the sensor console behind his command chair. "Have fun."

Laura moved with a slight woodenness in her step. Kevin knew she'd been hurt severely, and he questioned just how healed she was, but seeing that she wasn't complaining, he pushed it out of his mind.

What he didn't push out of his mind was Katana, and he leaned over as the other six Traveler bridge crew got the ship prepared to take off from the pier. "Katana…"

Before he could ask his question, Katana replied. "This isn't a simple mission. My people can handle it, yes, but I've got a bad feeling about this. That system is close to the inner rim and we both know what happened last time."

Kevin remained silent after that. He was still sore over nearly getting the ship hulled on its first voyage in this galaxy, and a part of him was itching for a rematch.

But after reading over the intelligence from the Olim, even with 2 Traveler ships armed with railguns, it would be difficult to take on the large sized shade he'd encountered before. The Olim were only ever able to defeat them through overwhelming firepower and at least a dozen ships. Kevin wasn't ready to expend all his precious ammunition simply for revenge.

But it didn't matter much in the end anyway. The Shade didn't seem aggressive, rather instinctual. Kevin figured he'd rather avoid fighting them directly than risk his crew.

Besides, why fight when you can love? Kevin turned to Katana and chuckled to himself. She eyed him suspiciously and rolled her eyes as he gave his orders. "Alright Chuck, take us out. Give us a standard orbit and wait for the _Alenko_ and _Karyan_ to catch up."

Chuck nodded in his chair and followed orders. "Aye, sir."

It was nice to hear that… '_sir'_. As informal as Atlantis had gotten, rank still meant something.

* * *

"Cool."

Kevin again tried to resist rolling his eyes, but he still gave a slight groan at Chuck's irreverent behavior. "You could say that."

Mila typed quickly on the Asgard core and soon the schematics for the modification Sam had made came up. "So Sammie's worked out a pretty cool way to change these transporter beams."

Chuck snorted softly at Mila's words, and Kevin himself felt oddly amused that this young woman thought of Colonel Samantha Carter as _'Sammie'. _ "Alright, how does it work?"

Mila pointed to a specific line of code that spanned down below the page border. "This here is the difference. From what I get of this thing, instead of grabbing the target and putting it back into place as it was, it'll now act more like a Wraith scooping beam and only harvest whatever mineral or whatever we want it to. It'll combine it all in the buffer, then rematerialize it in whatever solid shape we want, even sand if we want to."

"Sorta like the crystalline entity."

That was the final straw. First it was _'weapons to maximum'_, then it was _Tinman_, but the fact that Kevin even _understood_ what Chuck was talking about was the most annoying part of it all! "For the _love of God, Chuck!_ _Enough_ with the Star Trek! I've had to put up with it ever since _Prometheus_ and it's _freaking aggravating!"_

Chuck seemed a bit taken aback by the rebuke, but he shrugged in acceptance. "Uhh alright." He looked to Mila who gave him a sympathetic look. "So what should we call it?"

Kevin scratched his chin; there was something disturbing about this mining process. "We'll name it later…" He turned back to Mila with his question. "What if you beamed up a person? I mean, what if we accidentally leave this program running and try and beam someone up?"

Mila grimaced and shrugged. "Let's _not_ do that."

Chuck made a slightly disgusted sound, and Kevin found he had to agree. He might not appreciate the Star Trek jokes, but with his mind on it, he couldn't help but think of the scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture with the transporter malfunction. The idea of it _actually_ happening was distasteful to say the least.

* * *

"We're approaching the coordinates, _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ are right behind us."

Kevin nodded idly as Laura called out their position. "Alright, bring us out of hyperspace. Run a system wide scan and see if you can find any traces of the minerals we're after."

Orders were acknowledged, and soon the hazy blue of hyperspace was replaced by the black of space with a few stars visible. Kevin got up out of his chair and waited for Laura's report.

It took a few seconds, but Laura's confounded voice said more than he was expecting. "We're in normal space; the star is a little under a light year away. I'm detecting a lot of debris circling the star, like a giant asteroid field. Three planets total. One gas giant and two rock types."

Kevin furrowed his brow and turned. "Rock types?" Realizing he'd just opened the floor for yet another Sci-fi reference from the bright Canadian at the helm, Kevin turned to Chuck and gave him a murderous glare. "_Don't even think it!"_

Chuck had already opened his mouth to speak, but Kevin's words had filled it and so he simply pouted softly. "I said nothing! But you gotta admit, it's a good system!"

Katana simply stared at the two men as if they were crazy. Then again she was pretty much the opposite of a Trekkie and would likely not understand the simplicity of the types of planets Star Trek had classified. Chuck knew this, and smiled a knowing little smile to himself.

Kevin knew it as well, and he'd just mentally added another thing to go over with Sheppard and Sam. "Bring us closer to the nearest '_rock'_ planet. We'll test the mining beams, and then we'll move on to the star."

A simple mission, and Kevin was glad people weren't shooting at him.

"Sir?"

Dang it. He knew it was too good to be true. Kevin turned to Laura in his seat and nodded. "Yes, Laura?"

Laura had a curious expression on her face. "I'm picking up a lot of strange readings. Kinda like the sensors are being scattered. It could just be some mineral in the asteroids, but I'm picking up the same over the second planet as well as around the star."

Alarms began to go off in Kevin's head, but before he said anything, he turned to Katana and asked with his eyes.

Katana replied softly. "Could be interference from the star. Supernovas are… _hectic."_

Kevin wasn't so optimistic. If anything, this galaxy had shown him that being cautiously prepared meant more than anything else. He stood and straightened his jacket, silently cursing himself for inadvertently pulling the "_Picard_ _Maneuver_", then looked to Chuck who had a slight smirk. "_Lieutenant_. General Quarters. Arm all railguns and load forward missile tubes with Mark 5s, side and aft launchers with Mark 4s. Katana, tell the _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ to stay close and be alert."

To their credit, the bridge crew acted professionally. By calling Chuck by his rank rather than his name, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Marks had shown that this was a serious situation.

The lights dimmed a little and the red alarm went off. Marks turned to Cadman and nodded. "Where's the closest scattering taking place?"

Cadman tapped a few keys, and she motioned forward to the screen. "4 minutes away at cruising speed, in the asteroid field."

Marks bit the inside of his lip in a pensive move, and then nodded to Chuck. "Take us in, Lieutenant. Keep your eyes peeled."

As he sat down, Chuck followed the order. Katana mused softly so only he could hear. "Shade?"

Nodding slightly, Marks voiced his concern succinctly. "Could be. Not taking that chance."

They didn't say anymore, and Marks merely watched on the sensor readout on his console as _Daedalus_ flew closer and closer to the asteroids.

He was still smarting from his last bout with the Shade. He'd heard just how tough they'd been on Magna Secundus, but those were ground based. The large "Tinman" _(God he was going to kill Chuck one of these days. Just grab him by the collar and wring the life out of him…) _Shade creatures were even more deadly and Marks couldn't help but wonder about those "_Giant_" Shade the Olim had talked about.

At least he had the man who'd gone through the oodles of information the Olim had given them. "Lieutenant, tell me everything you learned about the Class 4 Shade Creatures the Olim told us about."

Chuck's lips crept up, but he kept the reference to himself. "The Olim have engaged them often. The only way they've ever been able to take one down is an overwhelming alpha strike. Hit 'em with everything they've got in one salvo. Even then, sometimes it just hyperspaces away. Whenever they _do_ take one down, it's usually been reduced to useless chunks."

Marks watched as the rocks ahead slowly began to grow bigger on the screen. "So they fall back easily?"

Chuck nodded without turning in his seat. "Yes sir. The Olim think that they have a really high survival instinct, unlike the smaller ones. They theorized that it's because they act as "_Resource_ _Nodes_" in that they harvest the raw materials from planets for whatever it is they do with them."

This was news to Marks. He'd read Chuck's report and it wasn't a detailed as this. "'Whatever they do with them?' The Olim don't know?"

"No sir, the Shade seem particularly interested in naquadah, neutronium, trinium, iron ore, sulfur and phosphorous deposits as well as silicon. They'll leave just about everything else, including precious metals, gases, carbon… pretty much everything but what I mentioned."

Marks growled softly. He didn't know _too_ much about chemistry, but he knew enough that what the Shade _weren't_ after constituted the majority of what a planet would be made of. "So they take all the good stuff. You'd think the Olim would have figured out what the Shade want with all that."

Chuck gave a low chuckle. "Guess being all advanced isn't as great as they make it seem."

Agreeing with him, Marks gave a soft snort. "That's the best thing I've heard in weeks, Lieutenant. And that scares me."

Everyone snickered at the dark joke, and calm again reigned. Marks was calm, he had to be. If the Shade were here, he had more than just his own crew to worry about. _Karyan_ had fifty-nine people aboard, and _Alenko_ almost a hundred. Added to the sixty-two crewmembers aboard _Daedalus_, and Marks had a lot of lives he was responsible for.

Everyone remained silent as the three craft moved closer to the asteroids, and they'd just about reached the point where they'd enter the field fully when Cadman spoke up. "Sir… I've got a visual on what's scattering our signal."

Already Marks knew what it would be, but he still ordered, "Put it on the main screen. Optimum magnification."

The screen jumped, and the distinct beetle-like shape appeared. The Tinman was wrapped around a large chunk of the asteroid, a strange vibration visible even at this distance.

That's when he noticed a second one in the top left corner. "Wait…. There's another one."

Cadman winced as she replied to the unasked question. "Actually there're three relatively close to each other. They're all grabbing onto asteroids and leeching minerals out of them. Doesn't look like they've spotted us."

Marks didn't mention that Cadman didn't give him the honorific; at this point in this galaxy, he'd gotten used to the informality. As long as she followed orders, it was all good. "Which one is further away from the other two?"

The screen shifted, and a lonely Tinman had just separated from an asteroid and began to drift away slowly. Marks thought about it for a few seconds and brought up a 3D map of the area on his console. A few seconds of planning, and orders came out of his mouth. "Alright, Lieutenant, bring us to these coordinates… " He sent Chuck the data and keyed in the communications panel. "_Karyan_? Come in."

"_Rutagen here."_

Marks found the Travelers names to be rather unique; some sounded very Latin, others completely alien to him. "Rutagen, I'm sending you coordinates. Take your ship and ready your forward railguns."

"_Copy that, Marks. what's the plan?"_

Marks shrugged even though Rutagen couldn't see him. "Ambush. Gonna lure that thing into a crossfire so we can take it down. If we can bring one in to Atlantis to study, it'll give us a bargaining chip with the Olim."

It was a fair enough rationalization. Marks had to admit, mostly he just wanted revenge for the Hylea. As he turned to Katana, he could see that she saw right through his "_bargaining_ _chip_" ploy and smiled softly. She wanted revenge as well.

Rutagen replied. _"Alright. We've got about 50 shells for our heavy railguns. Particle cannons are no good right?"_

"Right. Don't fire unless you're attacked or I give the order, though. Marks out."

Keying in _Alenko_, Marks passed on the same information.

The plan was pretty simple. Tease the Tinman into following _Daedalus_, then lead it into a three way ambush. Between the three of them, Marks was hoping to score a kill and give both his crew and Atlantis a much needed victory.

_Karyan_ and _Alenko_ moved into position hiding behind large asteroids. Marks waited a few minutes after they had done so to give his orders. "Lieutenant, swing us around and bring us within particle cannon range of the target."

Chuck hesitated a second, but in the end figured Marks knew what he was doing. "Aye sir."

The _Daedalus_ moved in silently, smaller rocks bouncing and shattering harmlessly off its shields, as it stealthily crept closer to the Tinman that had detached from the rock it was harvesting and begun to move away.

Almost within range, and Marks gave one last order. "Cadman, plot a course through the rocks to a point in between _Karyan_ and _Alenko's_ positions."

Cadman resisted gulping, and did as she was told. Chuck received the information and held the autopilot button ready to go.

The alarm on Marks' console beeped; they were within weapons range. "Lieutenant, fire four particle cannon shots and swing us around. Let's see if that gets its attention."

Feeling more than just a little tension, Chuck acknowledged the order. "Yes, sir." He moved the _Daedalus_ around one particularly large rock, almost like ducking out from behind cover, and tapped the fire command.

Four hot slugs of plasma spat out of the _Daedalus_'s hangar mounted cannons. The shots flew across the vastness of space, incinerating the odd small rock that got in the way.

The Tinman seemed to suddenly notice it wasn't alone, and spun around to take the shots across its bow like a bodyguard for a VIP. Each impact created a red-hot crater in the thick crystalline hide of the creature, but it quickly dissipated along the rest of the body. The Tinman now began to move rapidly, seemingly hungry for more as he approached the turning _Daedalus_.

Marks couldn't help but remember that he'd almost done the same last time, and it would have likely cost him his ship. "Get us moving, Lieutenant!"

Chuck didn't hesitate and quickly hit the autopilot. The craft spun around as the engines went to full burn and narrowly avoided a large floating asteroid.

Marks knew the 304s were nimble for capital ships, but seeing Chuck switch from autopilot and handle the craft like a heavy fighter reminded him of days past when he'd be the one piloting against Wraith Hives and Cruisers.

No time for that now, though. "Time to ambush position?"

Katana answered this time, seeing as Cadman was busy sending Chuck sensor data to keep _Daedalus_ from flying into a rock, and Chuck was… well keeping _Daedalus_ from flying into a rock. "Fifty three seconds! The shade is right…" To her surprise, another alarm went off beside her. "Wait… it's slowing down."

Marks turned to his console and watched as indeed, the Tinman was slowing down. "Dammit. Lieutenant, hit them with another…"

Cadman's voice interrupted. "Hyperspace window opening! It's leaving!"

With more than a little anger, Marks watched as the Tinman simply seemed to ignore the potential meal and entered the large fluctuating window into hyperspace.

With no small sense of disappointment, and an even larger sense of curiosity, Marks summed it up in one word. "Damn."


	29. A Cold Day in Hell Second Third

**A/N:** For those who missed it, i've posted the "Christmas Special" in a seperate story that i've added to the C2. follow author link to find it :)

Merry Christmas! may you all have partied hard! (passes out from exhaustion)

* * *

Captain Rutagen of the _Karyan_ and Captain Typhus of the _Alenko_ each filled half the screen; both were looking a little angry, but more confused that anything. "Do you think it saw the ambush?"

Marks shrugged. "Not a clue. Lieutenant Campbell has gone over every record the Olim gave us and we have absolutely not idea how it can even detect us. Every attempt to scan a Shade so far as resulted in scattered signals. Colonel Carter believes it has to do with the actual material the Shade are made of. That's why we need to take one down to study it."

Typhus cocked his head and deadpanned. "Why don't we just go in guns hot? Wait till we're close and hit it with everything we've got?"

Smiling, and knowing Katana was smiling behind him as well, Marks nodded. "I was trying to lower the risk for our ships, but it looks like brute force might be the best way. Our scans indicate that the system is likely full of Shade, so we'll have plenty of chances to take one down."

Rutagen growled softly. "We've only got limited ammunition. Those particle cannons you fired didn't do much. I'm not comfortable wasting ammo until we win."

It was a fair argument, and Marks cracked his jaw for a moment, _Dadaelus_ had _plenty_ of ammunition for its lighter railguns, and still had a near full storage of missiles. The problem was it couldn't put out enough firepower to take down a Tinman before it would hyperspace away. "You're right…. So let's try once more and see if we can't kill one of these bastards."

Both Chuck and Laura turned to give Marks an odd look. It wasn't often they heard command level officers cursing while not in combat, so it was definitely noticeable.

Orders were given, plans were made, and soon _Dadaelus_, _Karyan_, and _Alenko_ were surrounding another Tinman.

Chuck had learned to fly in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He'd flown _F-4 Phantoms, Huey UH-1s_, as well as CF_-18s_. Yet nothing had quite prepared him for slaloming through an asteroid field chasing a silicon based lifeform with the intention to kill it. "Tinman dead ahead sir. I think it's spotted us."

Marks scratched his chin for a moment, and then gave his orders. "Time our fire with _Karyan_ and _Alenko_. I want all our shots to hit at the same time."

Quickly inputting the needed commands into the computer, it calculated when and where to fire to achieve the command. "Ready sir. Firing forward missiles, T2-minus thirteen seconds for railguns."

Marks felt the _Dadaelus_ shake ever so slightly as four Mark 5 naquadah enhanced conventional missiles flew out, leaving trails of rocket plume behind. _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ had both moved into position and were waiting for the fire order to come from _Dadaelus's_ computers.

The Tinman didn't seem to detect the threat, and turned to face the firing line. Smaller rocks bounced off its hull harmlessly, it seemed to feel no fear or apprehension at what was heading towards it.

That was a question on Marks' mind. Did Shade feel fear? If that creature knew what was flying at it right now, would it panic or feel anxiety?

Marks had almost reached the point where he didn't care. These things had likely been the cause of these asteroid fields in the first place, and there were still 2 planets to go over.

"Firing!"

Nobody spoke as the forward 12 railguns of the _Daedalus_ finally opened up, and sheets of white-hot Naquadah tipped steel flew out at a hypersonic velocity. To the left and right of _Daedalus_, _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ both fired their heavier railguns, using old Trinium as a warhead. Instead of a burst of shots, each railgun on the Traveler ships spat out one round a second, four turrets each.

The amount of weapons fire that impacted the Tinman in one salvo was overwhelming, and if it had been a Wraith Hive the damage would have been severe. The Tinman shook violently under the barrage of railgun slugs and explosive missiles….

But it didn't stop moving.. "_Keep firing!"_ Marks screamed as he saw the mauled Tinman begin to move away.

More railgun fire swept across the dark reaches of space, and the Tinman rolled to spread the fire along its hull. Marks cursed silently at the useful tactic and realized that it was going to get away.

With no small sense of frustration, the Tinman opened up a hyperspace window and fled the asteroid field, chunks of its shattered hull still spreading like a fragmentation grenade.

Silence reigned on the bridge of the _Daedalus_. No one dared say anything as Marks simply sat there contemplatively.

Both _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ radioed in asking for what to do now. Marks just didn't have an answer.

* * *

The testing of the new mining beams was going well. The asteroids had been mostly mined of the needed materials, but other elements worked just as well for testing. Marks had to admit, he'd never seen a solid chunk of chlorine before.

The dual failure to take down a Shade Tinman was weighing on him. Granted yes, no battle damage and no real threat was here since they could bug out quickly, but it still smarted that these Shade were so sneaky.

It didn't make sense to him. The aggression he'd seen from the reports on _Magna Secundus_ were completely different to what he faced here. The _Sparky_ and _Gremlin_ genus of Shade were almost suicidal, rushing headlong into the fight with little regard for their wellbeing. These _Tinmen_ were… _different._

"Aww. Cheer up, Kev, its not like we're at our best anyway."

Sitting next to Mila as she went over the sensor readouts from the beaming testing, Kevin sighed as he contemplated. "Don't suppose we can use this mining beam on those Shade?"

Mila shook her head as she worked on the console. "No can do. We need accurate sensor data to use the beam. Otherwise there's no telling what we could be grabbing."

_Drat…._ Another potential weapon useless. Captains Rutagen and Typhus were disillusioned as well, but thankfully both knew well enough to hide it. "Yeah… We just need a few more seconds, concentrate fire and get into that bas…" Kevin checked his wording. "Uhh… _punk's_ hull. Do some damage on the inside."

Mila rolled her eyes and gave Kevin's knee a playful shove. "I'm not a kid, curse all you want. Just don't tell Radek."

Kevin chuckled, and he rubbed his face, then massaged his temples hoping for inspiration. "You have any idea how hard he complained when I asked you to come? You'd think he's in love with you or something."

Laughing openly, Mila shook her head idly. "Hahaha, nah, he's just protective. Larry used to be too."

Kevin snorted at the nickname. "I told you that's a guy's name where I come from right?"

Mila smiled and nodded. "Yep. That just makes it funnier." She sighed, and squeezed her chin in contemplation. "You're right though, if only we could do enough damage before it went into hyperspace…"

Kevin didn't bother hiding it from Mila; the little girl had become almost like a daughter to him in some respects, but he considered her more a friend. Her nonchalant approach to technology and natural aptitude was impressive, though her social skills were a little quirky.

She was still a barrel of fun in an otherwise somewhat dreary life. At least Marks wasn't desperate for meat like John back on Atlantis… of more than one variety. Having a hyperspace generator meant he could always go to a planet and hunt for…

Shooting up out of the chair in the engineering room, Mila jumped back at Marks' sudden jolt. "_Whoa_! What's wrong? Wraith pinch your ass?"

Giving Mila a _'grow up'_ look, the idea that had just snapped into Marks' head needed reassurance. "That's _it,_ Mila! _Hyperspace_!"

* * *

Chuck's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows topped his forehead. "Uhhh… Pardon sir. But _excuse me?!_"

Marks wasn't surprised at the reaction; this was an idea on the same level as the insanity he'd seen Sheppard do. "Open a hyperspace window in another one. What do you think would happen?"

Everyone on the bridge was aghast. It was a crazy idea. Chuck just sat there dumbfounded and tried to work out the math in his head. "Uhhh.. I have no idea?"

Ignoring the Canadian's honesty, Marks turned to Katana. "Come on, you've been in space your whole life. Has this ever happened?"

Katana shook her head with confidence. "Uhh. _No._ There are safeties to _keep_ that from happening. There's no telling what might happen."

Growling a little now, Kevin mused. "What's the _worst_ that could happen?"

On cue, Chuck muttered. "Subspace rupture. It could literally tear a hole in the fabric of space time itself."

Marks turned slowly with a glower to Chuck. "Think _positive_, Chuck."

Shrugging, Chuck scratched his head. "You're talking about opening a hole where there isn't anything to open. Granted, I'm an electrical engineer, but I've been studying Colonel Carter's notes the past few months and I gotta say, it's _very_…" Getting exasperated, Chuck sputtered and spoke with his hands. "…Crazy! Insane! _Wacko!"_

Unwilling to give up, Marks asked one final question. "Alright Chuck… straight question. What's the most _likely_ thing to happen if we do that?"

Now deep in thought, and annoyed that _everyone_ was watching him, Chuck tried to work the numbers in his head. It took a few moments, but finally he gave his best guess. "Guestimate? The hyperspace window would overload and either just wink out of existence taking all the energy into subspace…"

Marks wasn't patient with Chuck's pause for dramatic effect. "Or? Come on, Chuck."

Sighing, Chuck mused. "Or a really, _really_ big release of energy. Like… we're talking about a ridiculous amount of energy. It'd probably wipe out a planet with the blast wave… I think."

It was a risky move, and Marks knew it wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done. But he needed a victory; he needed to show both his crew and Atlantis, and especially the Olim, that they weren't ineffective pushovers. "Alright…. What's the furthest we'd be able to open a hyperspace window?"

Cadman answered this time. She brought up the power usage levels. "About 500 kilometers away, sir."

Nodding to himself, Marks turned to Katana. "Tell _Karyan_ and _Alenko_ to head back to Atlantis. We're doing this on our own."

Katana didn't reply, but she moved to her chair and the communications panel. Marks could tell she was a little ticked off, but no matter. He'd deal with _that_ later. He turned to Chuck and continued his idea. "I want a full frontal barrage on that last Tinman. Spin us around so we can fire a heavy missile salvo. That should scare that thing into hyperspace."

Chuck shrugged his shoulders in hesitation. "Alright... but at the range we'll have to be, if it blows up, the shields wouldn't last too long."

Cadman spoke up then. "What if we redirect weapons power to shields and engines? Maybe we can boost it just to have a little extra as well as the hyperspace generator?"

Marks turned to Chuck again. "Do we have the power to do that?"

Again, Chuck hesitated. "… I have no idea,"

Palming his forehead, Marks mused. "Oi…" He took a few seconds to himself to think. This was a _crazy _plan and _not_ the safest thing in the universe. But he needed a win, he needed to be able to go back to Atlantis and tell them that the Shade weren't the invulnerable and unstoppable force the Olim made them out to be. So he spoke confidently as he sat back down in his chair. "I'm not letting that thing get away…. Do it."

Unwilling to question orders, Chuck turned and muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oh boy… I hereby declare this the _"Frat Boy"_ maneuver."

Silent throughout most of the proceeding, Katana furrowed her brow at the phrase. _"Frat Boy Manuever?"_

Marks rubbed his forehead to ease the headache, and Cadman replied for him. "Uhh I think he means only a drunken idiot would try this."

Musing to himself, Marks said loud enough for Katana to hear. "I knew there was a reason Sheppard didn't let anyone name anything." He raised his head and barked like a true commander. "Do it!"

* * *

Rutagen had often wondered why Marks had stayed behind in Pegasus when the rest of his people went to their home planet. He'd known the man only slightly at the time, and he didn't understand why.

Turning to his woman, Rutagen nodded. "He's crazy."

"But he's brave. Sometimes that's a good mix."

Rutagen chuckled once lowly. "Estra, if I suggested the same you'd have me tied down."

Estra rolled her eyes and sighed. "If you did _anything_ I didn't like, you'd end up tied up."

The humor was an odd background as he watched _Daedalus_ move off towards the third Tinman they'd detected. "That's why I'm not going back to Atlantis. You'd kill me if I ran."

Estra reached over and ran her hand through Rutagen's hair. "There's a reason you're the captain."

* * *

"Alright Chuck, this is all you."

Rolling his eyes outside of his view, Chuck now didn't care too much about honorifics. "_Great_… as if I wasn't nervous enough _already_."

Marks let it slide. Insanity required a little more leeway than typical combat.

No one said anything, and Chuck nimbly maneuvered the _Daedalus_ through the broken chunks of rock floating in space. The Tinman hadn't noticed them yet and using inertia and maneuvering thrusters only, Chuck hoped to keep it that way.

Slowly, the relatively small _Daedalus_ crept up to the unwary Tinman. The creature was busy tearing into a large rock with its appendages, ripping it apart to get to whatever it was after inside.

Sound required air to be heard, so the Tinman didn't know it was under attack until the first barrage of missiles slammed into its back amidst washes of railgun shots.

It instantly turned and rolled to spread the damage along its hull. _Daedalus_ was close, _much_ closer than it was in the previous attacks. At this range, the Tinman could either jump forward and try and latch on, or run for it.

Marks almost cheered when he saw the Tinman turn face and run. He barked his orders. "Turn us around! Open the hyperspace window at maximum range!"

It happened so fast that Marks knew he'd have to see the sensor records to be sure exactly what happened, but within seconds of giving his order, a brilliant flash of purplish light overwhelmed the viewscreen. It quickly adjusted, but the slight black spots on Marks' retinas would stay for a few minutes. "_Report!"_

Chuck looked down at the screen, and he instantly shifted the craft into full military thrust. _"Incoming blast wave!"_

The ship turned so fast that the inertial dampeners couldn't hold it all, and the crew shifted to the left as the craft spun around. The view had cleared and the aft cameras showed a growing bluish haze expanding. _"The hell is that?!"_

Chuck groaned as he manually steered the craft between rocks and even fired the railguns to take out pesky ones he couldn't dodge. Replying was the least of his concerns.

Cadman was busy helping Chuck by plotting a likely course for him to follow, so it was up to Katana to reply. _"Subspace shockwave!"_

Unsure of what a subspace shockwave was, but more than convinced that it wasn't good, Marks simply remained silent as the craft began to shake from asteroid impacts and the oncoming blast wave.

At these speeds, Marks could see on the sensors that the blast wave was slowly approaching. He figured a few scratches on the already tarnished hull were worth survival, so he keyed his communications and screamed to the engineering section. "_Mila! _ Divert shields to aft! Let's try and ride the wave!"

Not being a surfer, Marks only hoped it worked.

* * *

Rutagen was amazed. The Tinman had literally been sliced in half as part of it was inside the hyperspace window when it… _exploded_.

The blast itself was impressive, and it easily tore the asteroids and rocks around it to dust. _Daedalus_ was still outrunning the blast, but not by much.

It was a tense few moments, and scanners indicated that _Daedalus_ had redirected its shield energy to the rear; that meant small rocks were getting through at the front and pummeling the hull.

Its railguns fired and tore the larger rocks apart, but the smaller ones bounced hard against the trinium hull, some even penetrating at such high velocity.

The blast wave finally reached _Daedalus_, and sensor readings became erratic.

Nobody on the bridge of the _Karyan_ said anything. All were wondering what would become of the sixty-two souls on the _Daedalus_. Some prayed, others merely watched and hoped.

The blastwave finally began to die down, and if one looked hard enough, they could see the nose of the _Daedalus_ sticking out from the slowing shockwave.

* * *

A few consoles had overloaded, and power was out in the port hangar. Added to a few ruptures in the hull along the main bow of the ship, and _Daedalus_ would need a few days to fully repair. But everyone was alive, and even more, sensors had cleared up. To Marks' surprise, Rutagen's voice came in. _"By the Ancestors… you're crazy, Marks."_

Still high on the adrenaline of riding a shockwave that could have taken a planet out _(Marks swore to himself to listen to Chuck next time.), _he could only say one thing. "My whole life flashed before my eyes…" He then turned to Katana with a shocked expression. ".. Am I really that dull?"

Cadman laughed at the odd exchange. And she gave a weird sound of relief that was suspiciously like a sigh. "That was fun. Let's _not_ do that again."


	30. A Cold Day in Hell Third Third

The broken and dead pieces of the Tinman were collected and stored aboard the _Daedalus_ and _Karyan_. Initial hard scans indicated that it _was_ different from the other Shade they'd examined and that it was the material they used as an exoskeleton that prevented standard scans.

Their mission here was almost complete, and even more, Marks noticed everyone working much more diligently. The victory had done what he intended it to do. Morale was up and he'd settled the score for the Hylea.

He'd just decided to take a little cat-nap before the ship moved to examine the star, when his door opened. Only three people knew the code so he wasn't worried.

"Kevin?"

Katana. He'd guessed right. "In here!" Kevin lay back on his bed, just closing his eyes. He'd gotten used to taking little naps every now and again, and it was quite refreshing. He wasn't expecting any hanky panky, but maybe Katana thought differently.

She entered the room and leaned on the doorjamb. "You didn't have to do that."

It was stupid playing dumb around Katana. she had long fingernails and she wasn't afraid to use them. "Yeah I did. Look at the crew."

Katana stretched her jaw from side to side, cracking it softly. "Never knew you were one to take risks."

That was true. Kevin sighed as he opened his eyes and looked at her. "High time I did. We're not in Kansas anymore."

Furrowing her brow, Katana said. "What?"

Snickering softly, Kevin yawned as he got up. Another hour or two and he'd settle in for the night. "Never mind. Everything worked out and now we've got stuff to take home and study."

Before he could say anything else, Katana sighed. "I'm leaving."

_That_ got Kevin's attention. "What?"

Katana chuckled at Kevin's suddenly shocked expression. She could always wake him up easily. "No, no… I'm not leaving _you._ I'm leaving _Daedalus_."

Still confused, Kevin moved closer and stood in front of Katana. One hand came up idly to her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Katana shrugged. "I'm not needed here anymore."

Taking her hand, Kevin couldn't really think of what to say. "Of course you're needed."

Katana chuckled softly and pulled Kevin's hand around her into a hug. "No… you don't get it. I'm not the captain here. You are."

"But you're my right hand… I'm not a Traveler…"

"Yes, you are." Katana said it with force. Kevin couldn't help but feel a little proud at her words.

"…I don't know what to say."

"You're as much a Traveler as I or Rutagen or even Larrin is." Katana pulled Kevin along now, sitting them both down on the bed. "A Traveler captain earns his crew's respect. He cares about them. They become his family." Katana smiled. "If things hadn't gone to hell back in Pegasus, I probably woulda ended up with one of my crew." Reaching into her pocket, Katana pulled out a large relatively thin cloth. "When two Travelers… grow close. More than just sex… we give each other something. Something dear to us. Shows we really care about each other."

Now Kevin started to understand. As much as Katana cared about him, her people had to come first. "You're going back to your ship."

Katana wrapped the cloth around her hands as she spoke. "Yeah. Already talked with Larrin, and the few ships we have left are gonna need experienced captains and crew. A lot of people are staying on Atlantis and some are going to the mainland."

"I know. I was there for the briefing too." Now Kevin could see she was trying to come up with some easy way of putting it. "You want your own command… that's okay, Kat."

Deflated, Katana sighed heavily and lay back on the bed. "Am I selfish? Yes. But I know you'll understand."

As much as he hated to admit it, Kevin did. "Yeah… yeah…" Taking a few seconds to think, Kevin reached into his shirt and pulled out his dogtags.

Katana eyed him suspiciously as he got up, and grabbed a second small chain from the table. He looked over at Katana as he separated the two thin strips of metal and hung one around his neck. He handed the other to Katana. "I'm guessing that cloth means something to you."

A little surprised by his forwardness, Katana accepted the dogtag and then looked at the cloth. "Yeah… yeah. It was my mother's. She was an engineer her whole life like Mila and… and she always used to wear this around her brow to keep the sweat from getting in her eyes." Katna rubbed the material between her fingers, and she sighed softly. "She died in the same raid that killed Mila's parents. Our captain was wounded, and I had to take over. That's how I become a Traveler captain. Larrin herself gave me my command."

It was a sad story, and it was the first time Kevin had heard it. In fact, something he was very curious about, but never had the nerve to ask, surfaced. He still wasn't going to ask though. He accepted the cloth and stretched it out. It was suspiciously like a bandana.

Katana now looked at the dogtag curiously. She didn't understand it. "What is this? It has your name but…"

Kevin chuckled, and gave a long sigh. "That… is what my life was before we came here." Looking down at the strip in his hand, he realized that it still meant a lot to him "They issue these to every soldier in our armed forces. It's an ID tag in case…"

Now Katana understood. "In case you get hurt… or…"

"Yeah…" Silence, and finally after several moments Kevin mused. "It becomes something important. A symbol of what we swore to."

Katana now understood why it meant so much to him. She'd often noticed the Earthborn soldiers reminiscing, often holding these things. She hadn't understood it then, but now she did. She couldn't say anything, now understanding that she'd been correct in assuming that Kevin would understand. She looked up at him and gave him a sensual _'come hither' _look. Kevin clearly understood what that meant and moved over.

Before he could do more than get close, his intercom chimed. "_Colonel Marks?"_

Kevin cursed softly and tapped the button next to his bed where the console is. "Yes, Captain?"

Laura's voice came through with some confusion. _"There's something strange on sensors, sir. We're approaching the star."_

Kevin had hoped that they could just take their sensor readings, and get back home. He'd had enough craziness for one day. "What is it?"

_"Our sensor readings are getting scattered around the star… and the star itself is giving unusual readings."_

That got Kevin's attention. Unusual readings from a star with enough energy to create a nebula were definitely not a good sign. "I'll be up in a minute. Keep the hyperdrive warmed up just in case," He turned to Katana. "Rain check?"

Katana furrowed her brow. "What?"

Snorting to himself, Kevin motioned for her to follow. "Forget it. Come on."

* * *

"Report."

Cadman motioned to the screen ahead. "When I started trying to scan the star, I kept getting scattered signals. It's similar to when we scan the Shade, but it's a lot bigger. And it's not the star itself, it's the area _around_ the star."

Kevin winced hard, stretching the tight skin around his eyes that demanded sleep. "Uhhh okay. Could it just be radiation or something?"

Chuck, near the helm in front, shook his head. "Thought of that. Asgard sensors compensate for radiation. So… I suggested we switch what we scan for."

Blinking, Kevin turned to Chuck. "Uhh okay. What?"

Cadman nodded and typed on her console. "Since we can't pick it up with standard sensors, I switched to something a little less techy." Cadman finished and switched to the main screen. The image turned into an infrared image with the white-hot star with several strange outcroppings nearby.

Kevin watched curiously and asked. "The hell? What are those? Flares?"

Laura shook her head, and replied as she worked. "I don't think so… here, I'll focus on one of them."

The screen jumped, and the outcropping became visible. It was oddly shaped already, but now Kevin could see that it was actually expanding. "What the hell? How big is that?"

With a little hesitation, Laura replied. "Big sir… it's almost a thousand miles in diameter… and it's still growing."

For each of those splotches to be that large, _something_ was happening out there. "Can you get a visual? Not thermal, just straight visual."

Chuck replied as Kevin sat down with Katana right behind him. "We're almost close enough…" He hesitated and looked back to Marks. "You don't think…?"

Kevin interrupted quickly. "I don't think, I make sure. Keep hyperdrive warmed up just in case." He turned to Katana. "Tell _Karyan_ to go, and this time make it an order."

Katana nodded and relayed the order. Laura called out after another minute of flying towards the star. "We're in visual range. Putting it up."

The screen switched and the view became clear. With polarization, the sight brought a chill to everyone watching. Chuck summed it up into one phrase. "Oh. My. God."

Just as Kevin feared, what they were watching was a Shade creature, but not just any Shade creature, it was a massive Shade that seemed to be unfurling like a peacock or butterfly. It was _extremely_ large and flat.

What was very shocking though was the way a solar flare seemed to consistently fire into the center… in fact. "Jesus Christ… that thing's mining the star!"

Kevin turned to Laura's muttered gasp and the scope of what was happening got to him. "Guess we know what the big ones do now."

Katana muttered in sheer catatonic shock. "Why is it doing that? That's more power than _Atlantis has!"_

Kevin shrugged, and cracked his knuckles before replying. "Make sure we're recording all this. And keep that finger on the…"

Before he could reply, an alarm began to beep on Cadman's sensor readout. _"Oh shit!_ Sir… whatever they're doing to the star is breaking it apart. I'm guessing another four minutes and it'll blow."

An exploding O Class star was definitely not a small explosion. Kevin knew that the biggest nebulas were created when these things blew. But something didn't feel right; those Shade were unbelievably close to the star and for it to blow, it would vaporize them all… or would it? "Chuck, plot us a hyperspace jump but don't go yet. Let's see what happens."

Chuck gave Kevin the most incredulous look the Lieutenant Colonel had ever seen. "Uhhh."

As much as Kevin disliked Chuck's easygoing attitude, he knew that deep down the soldier in him would win out. "Trust me Chuck. This isn't right and I want to know why."

Everyone on the bridge remained silent, the ticking clock in everyone's mind counting down. Katana turned to Kevin with a scared look, something that sent a shiver down Kevin's spine.

But he knew he was right. He had to be. The Shade wouldn't be so close to the star without a reason.

The four minutes passed by too rapidly. And before Kevin knew it, Cadman called out. "It's happening, I'm detecting a _massive_ surge of hard radiation and energy output. It's blowing. Three minutes to visual!"

3 light minutes away from the star. _Daedalus_ was about the same distance as Mercury from the Sol Star. Kevin got up and moved over to where Chuck was starting to breath heavier.

He put a hand on the man's shoulder, calming him, instantly showing more care for those under his command with a movement than he had with his words since coming to this galaxy. Chuck spared Kevin a quick look of appreciation, then turned back to the helm. "You know, if that shockwave's going to be right behind the flash..."

Kevin nodded. "I know… if you see it coming our way, don't hesitate."

Chuck nodded idly, waiting for the remaining 2 minutes. "Bet yer ass I'm not gonna hesitate. 'fore I came to Atlantis I had a fortune teller predict my death."

Kevin turned an incredulous look to Chuck. Off behind him, he heard Laura nervously snickering. "What?"

"Yeah… I'm supposed to die in bed, at what age she didn't say, but I'm _not _in bed right now!"

Realizing he was just trying to lighten the mood _(Ironically the exploding star outside would already do that) _Kevin simply tried to look confident. "Yeah well, let's try and keep that fortune teller's track record on top."

Nobody laughed, but at a time like this it wasn't surprising. With 30 seconds to go, Kevin turned to Laura once more. "Make sure we're recording what we see, full backups and full sensors."

Laura nodded and gulped watching as the countdown came down to 20. "All working sir. Polarizing the view."

10 seconds,

5 seconds

1 second.

A brilliant dot of light expanded into a large splotch on the screen. It adjusted and lowered the amount passing through the polarization.

Nobody said anything as they watched the scene unfold, but Kevin could swear he heard a skip in the beat of everyone's hearts.

The star had exploded, but something strange was happening. It wasn't expanding. Layers of burning plasma tried to expand out into a solar scorching blast, but the Shade seemed to be stopping it.

It became clear that there were more than just a few of these creatures. The entire sun had been surrounded by them… dozens of them, and only now that the unbelievably hot energy from the star tried to escape, did their silhouettes stand out.

Kevin realized that he was looking at something truly majestic, and the terror he felt in his relatively small human heart outweighed anything else he'd ever felt. These Shade creatures were literally absorbing the energy of a star itself. A Population 2, class O star.

No one could say anything for the 10 minutes they watched the Shade absorb the energy. The creatures themselves began to glow, all the stored energy giving them a luminescence that spanned thousands of miles. Kevin couldn't even begin to fathom how much energy was being stored away in those creatures.

Having seen enough, Kevin turned to Chuck and with a hushed voice whispered. "Get us home Chuck. Best speed." Chuck was frozen in catatonic horror. His jaw was slightly open and his eyes wide. Kevin had to shake his shoulder a bit to bring him back to reality. "Chuck, come on… we've seen enough."

Chuck finally started breathing normally again and shook his head clear. "Yeah… yeah yeah… home."

Kevin wasn't looking forward to telling the others about this. His one single victory against the Tinman suddenly felt very small in comparison to what he watched now.

* * *

"Sam… say something."

John was worried. Not only had Kevin's report been incredibly long-winded, but from what he understood, the Shade were even more strange and powerful than they'd first thought. Sam had just finished 10 minutes worth of reading the entire report, and her face had gone pale. She turned to John and took long deep calming breaths, saying nothing.

John had locked the door to her office and closed the blinds. Sam was frozen in place, not only because her leg was resting upright on a stool beneath her desk, but because her mental capacity to understand had just been taken to the limit. "Sam… Say something… please."

Sam turned to John once more, and she let a small whisper out as she expressed her feelings in a soft and slowly terrified tone. "Back in the Milky Way, I wrote a paper on the possibility of mining a star for raw energy. My idea was to put high efficiency solar panels and an orbiting space station, maybe even try and recharge a ZPM with it."

John remained silent, letting Sam say what she needed to say.

"The IOA didn't want to bother with it because of the infeasibility. Even at close range, a hundred solar energy collectors would only give us the equivalent of the United Kingdom's combined power grid per month. Compared to a ZPM, it's small peanuts.

'A ZPM has about the same, if not a little less, energy than a small M class star… you know the classifications?"

John nodded and whispered. "Oh Be A Fine Gal, Kiss Me." He knew Sam would know of the mnemonic phrase. Her slight smirk told him she found it amusing.

Sam continued. "I… I theorized that a ZPM had enough energy to take out a solar system if it blew. The SGC still has one ZPM that was tampered with." Taking a moment to look at the report on her tablet, Sam's voice began to stutter. "An O class star it-it… it's just… it's _sooo_ much _bigger._ I… I-I can't even begin to-to comprehend how much…"

Seeing that Sam was genuinely terrified, John was thankful that there were some things in this universe he was ignorant about. He didn't say anything and merely moved over to give Sam a small one-armed hug.

To his surprise, Sam pushed him away. "No… no John. You don't get it. An O Class star has enough energy to power Atlantis 'till the universe suffers heat death. It's… it's almost unimaginable." Sam took long calming breaths, and John just simply didn't know what to do. "I need to be alone right now John. I need to think and… and I can't have you here." She turned a pleading face to John. "Please John. I…"

John sighed, and reluctantly pulled away. "… What could the Shade need that much energy for?"

Sam shook her head and spoke a little louder. "I don't know… but I need to go over this in detail. I need to see how they did this, how much energy they took, everything… Please, John. I _need_ to be alone."

If it was enough to scare the blood out of Sam's face, John certainly felt an odd sense of terror. "Sam…" He couldn't find the words to say. He wanted to be here to support her, to back her up and help her through the worst of it, but this was something he wasn't capable of helping with, and it was tearing him apart. All he could do was reach out and take Sam's hand.

Feeling John's reassuring grip on her hand, Sam squeezed back once, before speaking in a hushed tone. "_John… I want… you to leave. We can talk later just… I need… solitude. This is science on a level we've never even seen before. This is exponential times bigger then what I've dealt with and…._" She started chuckling in incredulity. "_And I'm terrified. I'm terrified because I don't know. So please. Please, please just go. I'm not pushing you away just… just give me this space. Please."_

John had rarely ever heard Sam beg. She could have easily ordered him to go instead of just asking. If he was scared before, now he was just plain terrified.

Relenting, John moved forward and gave Sam a final hug before moving off. In a way, even though he wasn't technically in a relationship with her, as John left the room and closed the door, he felt he'd just had his first fight with her. It was an odd feeling to say the least.

Inside the office, Sam leaned forward and laid her head down on her palms with her elbows on the desk. She knew an O Class star of the dimensions _Daedalus_ had catalogued, had something around 10 to the 48 times joules of energy. She'd done the math for Jack once when he asked and it came to around three quintillion 40 megaton nuclear bombs worth of energy. When Jack blinked at "Quintillion" She'd had to dumb it down to 'a 3 with 30 zeros behind it.'

What could the Shade possibly need three quintillion 40 megaton nuclear bombs worth of energy for?

* * *

"Sam? Scared? Yeah right."

John had asked the question very offhandedly, and he knew Daniel was likely thinking it had something to do with John's recent close friendship with Sam. "Well, just hypothesizing here. What do _you_ think would scare Sam?"

Daniel rolled his eyes and looked out the Jumper's windshield for Teyla's settlement in the distance. "I dunno, maybe a pop-up snake in a can of nuts."

John gave Daniel a not so amused look. "And exactly when did you become a comedian?"

Daniel shrugged back nonchalantly. "Oh, about ten thousand years ago when causality and improbability decided to leave the vicinity of my existence." Seeing that John was genuinely not amused, Daniel grew more serious. "Honestly? Unless it's something personal, Sam doesn't get scared like most people. Nervous, yes. Anxious? Sure. But scared? Nah uh. We're talking about a woman who threw a stargate into a star to defeat a fleet of ships that threatened to kill us all. One of the first times we went through the stargate, she nearly killed this Mongol tribe leader who tried to make her his queen."

John snorted at that. "Mongol? Queen? I think I'll have to ask her about that one."

Daniel laughed, but then he continued his serious bit. "Seriously, unless it's personal, it would take something so vast and unimaginably beyond our realm of understanding to scare Sam. So stick with the pop-up snake and you'll do fine."

Both men chuckled about their mutual friend. John considered asking Daniel about Teyla, but he'd since come to an understanding that Daniel was exactly the kind of person he would want Teyla to be associated with. Besides, with Ronon in Teyla's settlement now, John was quite sure Daniel would behave.

What really bothered John right now was the way Daniel made it quite clear that Sam didn't get scared easily. And that just made what happened earlier even worse.

* * *

"Here you go, Daniel. Something the Travelers have starting growing and making."

Daniel turned around and smiled at Teyla as she held Torren in one arm, and handed Daniel the piece of Traveler chocolate with the other. "Oh, this stuff? Yeah I was talking with Reyna about it actually, and she says she prefers Earth's chocolate instead."

Teyla snickered softly and bounced Torren up and down a few times, before patting him gently on the back. "As do I, but until we can successfully germinate the seeds left by the botany department of the expedition, this will have to suffice."

Sensing a rebuke in there somewhere, Daniel turned his tablet off and spun to face Teyla. "Well then, I'd be honored if you would share it with me."

Teyla chuckled and moved over to the crib. "Excellent save, Daniel. But I don't believe it would be too smart for me to take it right before going to bed."

Sensing another rebuke in there, Daniel cracked off a piece and starting chewing it softly, leaving the rest of it on his desk next to a strange looking plant Teyla had brought him earlier that week to spruce his makeshift little office in the hut. "I think it's time I got some shuteye too. Torren's asleep?"

Teyla stretched her arms after tucking Torren in, and rubbed her neck where her shoulder met it. "Yes, and with luck he will _stay _asleep for once."

It was always fun with Teyla; she spoke so much with so few words. Daniel shut off the light and moved over to take the not so subtle hint that Teyla wanted a neck rub.

As he and Teyla moved to the bed they were sharing, neither noticed that the plant next to the Traveler chocolate began to quiver. The stem slowly flexed, and to nobody in particular's surprise, it reached down and grabbed the candy with its flower head top. The flower closed in like a book. And no one was the wiser.

Because the old adage was true, if no one was around, the plant didn't just eat that chocolate.

* * *

Teaser for Episode 15

**Episode 15 – Green Thumb**

* * *

_225 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Wex:** How did you grow up?

**Dan Drake:** _How_ did I grow up? Don't you mean where?

**Wex:** One of the lessons I learned from Teyla is that _where_ you grow up doesn't matter, it's _how_ you grow and what you do that does.

**Alicia Vega:** In that case, I'm not sure he _ever_ grew up.

**Wex:** That… doesn't seem possible.

**Dan Drake:** Kid, remind me to bring a few movies next time. Growing up in DC in the 80s _definitely_ made a difference_._ Dave Chappelle can say it better than I can.

**Alicia Vega:** 'I'm Rick James, bitch'' ?

**Dan Drake:** …_Exactly._


	31. Special Webisode!

**Dark Frontier Special Webisode (Like they're NOT all webisodes :P )**

**A/N**_**:**__ So I'm honoring a request from a fan "Frankius17" who requested a…. well it's a short thing, hope y'all enjoy it. Not **exactly** what Frankius requested but pretty close _

I_'m unsure of when this takes place… just a fun little thing._

* * *

Consciousness was an interesting thing, you never know you've lost it until you wake up being dragged by a five foot nine woman to the background of gunfire and the distinct feel of snow in your pants. "Leese… next time I wanna get off Atlantis, give me a short sharp kick to the head, 'kay?"

Alicia's teeth were already chattering, but unlike John she was not really in the mood for glib remarks. "Yeah well, you pass out again and I _will_ enjoy kicking your ass when we get back!." Okay, maybe an angry sarcasm would do.

Dusty on the other hand was not enjoying their situation. "Remind me _why_ we're hiding? We have _guns_ remember?"

Alicia set John down on the side of the small cave and winced as he groaned in pain. "Not the time Dusty! Just make sure none of those… _things_ get inside!"

Dusty growled, but nodded as she moved off to cover the entrance.

John coughed, and took a few sharp breaths. The shit had hit the fan so fast he was totally disoriented. "The others?"

Alicia knelt down and helped John settle into a better position. She winced looking at the blood on his lips and pulled out a napkin. "They made it to the Jumper… Cadman'll get em back."

John chuckled and, coughing again, spit up a few specks of blood onto the fresh snow beneath him. "Thought I left this shit behind in Pegasus."

More concerned about their predicament than recriminations, Alicia gave her wounded superior officer a squeeze of his shoulder as she cracked a glowstick and nodded. "You okay for a minute?"

Knowing that Alicia was trying to take control of the situation, and he _certainly_ wasn't in any condition to help, John nodded. "Go… I'll be fine…"

A little worried that his voice had dropped somewhat, Alicia scurried up and ran to the front of the cave entrance where Dusty had taken a defensive position. "Anything?"

Dusty was shivering already, the snow had been beautiful when they stepped through the gate, and even more when Cadman had arrived with a Traveler survey team. "Fucking cold… We won't last long without a fire."

Alicia forced her teeth to stop chattering. "Yeah… yeah…" It was true, they wouldn't last long without a fire or some other form of heat, but it had been the smoke and fire that had attracted those little pygmy mother… "I'll start a small fire inside… We'll switch shifts guarding… Carter'll send someone soon… just… just a few hours tops." It was hopeful, but deep down Alicia could feel the doubt.

Dusty nodded, and tightened her jacket around her body. "If I need help, I'll start shooting. Go!"

The trees around the cave entrance diminished the little light from the stars already, and the night air had brought shocking cold wind. Alicia nodded to Dusty and crept out as the Lieutenant covered her. Picking up some branches from the ground, Alicia checked them quickly to make sure they were dry.

As she heard something off to the side, Alicia had a moment of inspiration. "Dusty! Silencer!"

The Lieutenant was already shivering enough for her rifle to be shaking, but she reached into the fold in her vest and pulled it out. "Good idea…"

Alicia didn't hesitate as she ran back inside where she'd left John. The Colonel had cracked another glowstick and despite the isolation, the back end of this cave was surprisingly well lit in a haunting blue glow. "Looks like we lost 'em… maybe they don't like caves."

John wiped his mouth and bunched up his jacket. "Neither do I… something about all this rock around me…"

Alicia snorted, and after rubbing her hands together, pulled out her emergency kit as branches she carried fell to the ground. "You doing okay?" Alicia knew he was far from okay. He'd taken quite a nasty fall and, the fact that the impact had torn his leather clothing enough to expose his skin, she knew his answer would be bad, or stupid.

"Nothing Carson can't fix."

Okay… maybe Alicia needed a little more of John's optimistic nature. "Good… cuz I'm fucking freezing and I don't think a big fire is smart in here."

John winced hard and wiped his face again. He'd cracked some ribs for sure, and the blood on his lips said he was bleeding internally; not much, but enough to cause some damage.

Alicia took out her combat knife and quickly began whittling away at the thin wooden sticks. John looked at her oddly for a moment, but then realized what she was doing. The sticks themselves would take awhile to light, unless she made some tinder. "Dusty?"

"Outside…." Realizing that it was much colder in the wind of the opening to the small cave than inside, Alicia looked to John. "Can you whittle?"

John shrugged, and groaned loudly as his lungs complained. "No, but hand it over."

Now concerned, Alicia scurried over. "Shit… you're a mess…" Realizing that he was shivering, Alicia sat down quickly and hugged him softly. He began to protest but Alicia shushed him. "Shut up, you're as cold as I am and I need to warm up to go switch with Dusty."

John did as he was told, and with one arm pulled Alicia closer for the little time she'd be there. His vision was fading a little and he knew he was on the leading edge of shock. "Leese… get Dusty… I'll get the fire ready."

Only a minute had passed, but Alicia did feel warmer. She pushed aside any thought that wasn't survival and nodded. "Get as much ready… I'll bring more wood if I can."

John nodded, and keeping his torso immobile, he drew his knife and began to mimic Alicia's whittling. "Go…" The shavings fell to the lightly snowed floor beside him and he focused on staying awake.

Alicia ran out the 15 feet around the corner to where Dusty was. The woman had taken the initiative and had some dry branches ready to take inside. "Get the fire going?"

Shaking her head, Alicia hooked her thumb back. "No… get in there. John's in bad shape. Get the fire going if you can."

Dusty didn't question the order. She gave Alicia a small tap on the shoulder as she pretty much ran inside.

Now holding her silenced rifle and gathering more firewood, Alicia finally had a moment to think. God, this mission had gone FUBAR fast…

* * *

"How you doing, Dusty?"

Shrugging and pulling out the box of light anywhere matches from her kit, Dusty replied. "Freezing my tits off…. Wish I'd brought a better jacket."

John chuckled, and pushed the small pile of tinder away from him and towards Dusty. "Here… light this stuff underneath and get the bigger branches burning… clean 'em up first."

Dusty wanted to snark that she knew how to start a fire, but in all honestly she'd forgotten most of her survival training from lack of using it. "Yeah, yeah… clean it…"

Bowing his head, John wondered exactly how the people back on Atlantis would react to this. Granted, flying monkeys were nothing new to him, but flying monkeys swinging the branch equivalents of two by fours had been a new one in his books. And to think, five years ago he considered spotting a penguin to be an eventful day. "We'll be fine… just gotta hold out a little while."

Dusty's hands were shivering as she struck the first match. "Something tells me you're gonna have a great chance to give me my performance review."

John snorted, and watched as the little flame dropped into the tinder and quickly set it alight. "Ah, that's what this is: you two dragged me in here to get good reviews. Good plan."

Shaking her head and now blowing softly on the fire, Dusty prayed that the fire would light up as she was _fucking FREEZING._ "Yeah well, I'm about to get an unfair advantage." It was a common thing; sharing body heat was the most efficient way of conserving energy. Once the fire began to burn on its own, Dusty moved over to where John was and laid her rifle on the floor. "Don't get the wrong idea, sir."

John snorted as he raised an arm and Dusty settled in next to him. "Ronon would kill me." Turning away from John suddenly, Dusty bit her lip to keep from saying something too far south of snarky. John noticed though and softly mused. "Uhh, sorry."

Dusty shook her head and shifted closer to John trying her best not to hurt him. "It's okay… I think it's for the best."

John let it sit there, Ronon had given him his reasons for why he'd left and they made sense to him. Maybe in the past John would have tried to talk some 'sense' into the Satedan, but since coming to Hoag's Object John had learned that sometimes your personal honor meant more than getting laid.

Both soldiers remained quiet as the fire began to build. The lack of wind made it a simple thing as the embers grew to small flames, and soon the heat began to fill the cave.

Five minutes had passed in silence, both soldiers simply staying put, conserving energy, staying warm. Dusty knew she had to go replace Alicia since she was likely freezing by now. She gently pushed off John and nodded. "Leesh'll be here in a minute. Don't pass out."

John snorted. "I wasn't planning on it."

Dusty snorted back and, picking up her rifle, she moved out towards the cave entrance. It took only a few seconds to get there, and she saw Alicia all scrunched up trying to stay warm as she scanned the area around her. "Leesh!"

Alicia turned, and immediately slung her rifle around her back. "Dusty! Is John okay?"

Holding back her snark, Dusty nodded. "Sarcastic, so I think he's fine."

Bending down, Alicia picked up the bundle of wood she'd gathered. "You get a fire going?"

Dusty nodded and gave Alicia both a quick one armed hug to give her a little warmth, and then a knee to her butt in a signal to get moving. Alicia couldn't laugh despite wanting to. It was just too cold.

* * *

"You know… my dad used to take me camping whenever we had the time… and he'd hate it when I acted girly."

John snorted, not even a minute had passed since Alicia had put more wood on the fire and ,tending to it, that she started these stories again. "You've told me. He hated your Barbies."

Alicia snickered; the humor was a good distraction from the cold. "I told you… he thought I wanted blonde hair and big boobs." She snickered at the thought. "He used to call her the _"Gringa Idolo"_… a white chick's idol."

That was a new part, and John had to chuckle. "I still can't believe you used to play with dolls. I just can't see you with it."

Now moving over to him, confident the fire wasn't going to die out, Alicia sat down next to him and winced at his shirt. "Honestly? People kept giving me them. Can't really say no then."

Noticing her eyes, John screwed his face. "Uhh, you're not thinking of….?"

Alicia cocked her head. "Gotta see how bad it is."

Groaning, John sighed. "Alright… just… be gentle."

She tried to stop her snort, but it still came out softly. She'd promised herself to keep soldierly and calm, but seeing John's ridiculous smirk broke her concentration. "You didn't say that the last time."

John rolled his eyes and braced himself. "Last time I fell from a tree, not into a hole."

Rolling up his shirt, Alicia winced at how the fall into the nest of the weird flying monkey creatures had scraped him up. "Least you didn't land on your ass."

They snickered softly, and John sighed as he felt the cold slowly warming air lick at his bare chest. "How is it?"

Alicia gingerly ran her finger along his exposed ribcage. "That hurt?"

John bit back the pain, and in a hoarse voice managed. "_Oh no. That actually feels pretty good."_

Rolling her eyes at his obvious flirtive nature, Alicia now pressed down slightly in areas checking for breaks. "I think Sam might have something to say about that."

John didn't reply, only breathing with concentration.

Once she'd ascertained that he probably had a fractured rib and severe bruising, Alicia rolled his shirt down and cuddled up to stay warm. The mention of Sam had silenced John and now Alicia felt… odd. Something told her she wasn't allowed in that circle of his life anymore, at least not as a participant. "Hey…"

John nodded softly as he held Alicia close on the floor of the cave, the fire warming the air enough to stop the shivering in concert with the body heat. "Yeah?"

Blinking a few times, Alicia sighed. "Sorry if I…"

John shook his head, but he didn't laugh. "No, no… you've got nothing to apologize for." He sighed in response. "I uhh…I don't say this… _ever._ But I want you to know… you're a really good friend."

Alicia snorted softly and winced as she dropped her head onto the nape of his neck. "I never stood a chance, did I?"

She'd said more with that then anything else they'd ever done together. John realized that she was still thinking about that kind of thing and… and right now with John feeling like a piñata, and Alicia worried about their survival, it was the only time they'd ever get to talk about it. So John decided to be honest. "Yeah… yeah you did…" He pulled her head in and gave Alicia soft kiss on the forehead. "Just not a big one."

Alicia snickered; John could always make her laugh. There weren't many people who could do that anymore. "_Thanks._ That makes me feel _a lot_ better."

To her surprise, John turned her face towards him. "I mean it… I… I think maybe if…"

Before he could finish, the sounds of gunfire at the cave entrance warned them to danger. Alicia shot up and unslung her rifle. "_Dusty!"_

John drew his own particle magnum as he felt the earth beneath him begin to shake, "Go!"

Alicia didn't wait and ran towards the entrance. Dust and snow wafted in thick clouds obscuring her vision, but one thing was clear, the entrance had been sealed by a ridiculous amount of snow…. And Dusty was nowhere to be seen.

An avalanche. _Goddamnit! _ She _should_ have known! Alicia froze for a moment, horrified that Dusty may have been buried alive. That's when she heard Dusty's voice in a strange muffled confusion, "_Are we there yet?!"_

Amused, but unable to laugh, Alicia moved into the cloud of snow and dust and found the woman on the floor, half buried with snow. "_Dusty!"_

She was bleeding from a headwound, and her eyes were all skewy. "Leesh? Aren't you in that horsehead galaxy or something?"

Alicia did a doubletake at Dusty's odd phrase. "What?"

Shivering on the border of convulsion, Dusty looked down to where her arm was pinned by the fallen snow. "I think I fell."

She was delirious and Alicia realized she had another wounded person to take care of. "Alright… hang on, babe, I'll get you out." She knelt down and used the butt of her rifle as a shovel to begin digging Dusty out. It wasn't hard as the snow was quite light, in contrast to the possible hundreds of pounds that had covered the entrance.

Fear was huge in Alicia's mind now. Was Dusty all in one piece? Was John going to be able to survive long enough for Atlantis to find them? Could Atlantis _even_ find them under all that snow?

* * *

"Punani is _not _a fruit!"

"Dusty?"

Dusty groaned softly as she curled up and shivered next to John. "Sheppard? You're Sheppard right?"

John looked up at Alicia who dropped to the floor and groaned in pain even as she laughed at Dusty. "The hell?"

Alicia cuddled up to John after throwing some more branches on the fire and letting it smolder. "I think one of those monkey things got her in the head. Gunfire sealed us in… avalanche."

John groaned softly in anger. "Great… least we'll get an igloo effect."

Alicia threw an arm around John and pulled Dusty closer to her leg to try and keep the wounded woman comfortable. The fire in the cave flickered as more branches began to burn and sizzle. "What?"

John shrugged and kept Alicia close, even with the flame, the air was still cold enough to warrant some close contact. "Snow's a good insulator… Eskimos use it to…"

"…make igloos." Alicia finished, and Dusty mumbled some other incomprehensible thing. "Can Atlantis find us?"

Dusty mumbled interrupting. "_Be a man! Do the right thing!"_

John breathed heavily, and then nodded even as he raised an eyebrow. "Snow won't stop transmissions… problem is air. This cave… " He looked around. "4 or 5 hours? More if we don't expend energy."

Alicia sighed, knowing what was coming. "So…we need to sleep… and the fire needs to go out."

John nodded, and he let his head fall onto Alicia's that was on his shoulder. "Let the fire die out… it's not burning enough air to matter… 'lantis will come."

Dusty mumbled as she cuddled up despite her injuries. "_Pumpkins? We're Indian mom… where's the Bhata?"_

John furrowed his brow, and mumbled softly and he tried to calm down enough to fall asleep. "The hell is she talking about?"

Alicia also slowed her breathing, and smiled softly, thinking about what they looked like from an outside perspective. "Her mom… Dusty and me were back at the SGC… her mom used to send us pumpkin pies from her garden."

John chuckled softly, and reached down to give Dusty a rub on her shoulder. "I can't tell what's better… missing family, or not having family."

Alicia did a final movement, pulling Dusty's head between their laps keeping all of them warm. "I miss mine… but I'm not sorry."

Neither soldier said anymore, and John simply closed his eyes and tried to ignore Dusty's sudden delirious mumblings. _"Somebody gonna getta hurt _real bad… _Tap some Bong! WaaaahhhH!!! No Sunni Tan!"_

* * *

"_John?"_

It was bad enough to fall asleep in a strange place, but to wake up to a voice like _this?_ "Carson?" The light that invaded his eyes made John jerk away. "_Gah! The hell!?"_ Suddenly finding a ton of hands holding him down, John blinked away the blindness and suddenly groaned as he realized his chest was complaining _loudly._ "_Urggh!"_

Carson grunted and put his hand firmly on John's shoulder. "Stop fightin' me, lad! Yer banged up enough as is. Sam's already going crazy with ya missing, a broken needle in yer arm ain't gonna help matters."

With the Scottish accent, the threat was just too funny. John realized that he was on a stretcher and being carried through the woods towards what he assumed was either the stargate or a Jumper. "You're cute when you're angry, you know that?"

Carson snorted and, swabbing John's arm with an alcohol pad, he injected something. "Aye, first time _you _tell me, but Rey's been teasing me since I met her."

"Wait… Leese… Dusty…" Realizing that while he'd been passed out, he'd been rescued, John immediately worried about the others.

Carson's grip softened, and soon the roof of the Jumper became visible in John's vision. "They're fine. Dusty's… " Carson drifted off for a second. "She's going to need a little rest, but with any luck the memory loss is temporary."

John remembered the last thing he heard Dusty mumbling and chuckled. "She'll be fine… just a little crazier than usual. Leese?"

"Right here." Alicia looked tired, but she held onto the stretcher nonetheless. "Looks like I got lucky this time."

Now laying back, John simply wanted to get back to Atlantis and leave the flying monkeys alone.

* * *

"I'm okay… Carson said I didn't actually break any ribs, just bruised 'em bad. They drained it out and I'm okay now."

Laura nodded and sighed. "Just wish I coulda waited for you guys. Carson said you guys were pretty delirious when they found you."

Laura was the third member of the survey team who'd come to see him. Even Dusty had recovered enough to come and see if John would tell her anything about her delirious rambling. "It's okay, Cadman. I'll be fine in a day or two and hey, I found out if you crack Dusty on the head _just_ right, she'll say some of the funniest stuff you've ever heard."

Tongue in cheek, Laura snickered. "Oh great, now I have to pay attention to her for _more_ than just the usual random attacks."

Both laughed for a bit, and John noticed a new visitor enter the room. Laura noticed too and instantly nodded. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Sheppard. Glad to know it wasn't that bad."

John nodded politely and sighed. "All the visitors I get, what's not to love?"

With a soft chuckle, Laura left the room nodding to Alicia who walked in towards John. She had a smile on her face and watched John for a moment before speaking. "You know… Dusty's dying because she doesn't know what she said. I'm thinking of a conspiracy. You in?"

John chuckled and nodded. "Of course, but I gotta ask, what the hell is a Bhata?"

Alicia snickered and sat down next to John. "I think it's an eggplant or something. You'd have to ask Dusty."

John snorted. "Don't think she wants to see either of us right now."

They both laughed, and then a strange awkward silence reigned. It lasted for almost a minute and a half before they both began to speak. "John…"

"Alicia…"

They both looked at each other and started laughing, one after the other offered to let the other go first, but in the end John ended it. "No, no… you go first. That's an order."

Alicia scoffed softly and began to wring her hands together. "Umm.. I uhh.. I wanted to ask…" She looked up at John. "Were you serious? Back in the cave?"

John considered feigning ignorance, but he knew from the way she was looking at him, and the way he himself instinctively knew. There wasn't anyway around this. "…Yeah…. Yeah I was."

Alicia sighed softly, and put her hand over his that was on the bed. "… Thanks… that uhh… that actually makes me feel just a little better."

John smiled and turned his hand over to take hers. It was obvious that she'd been thinking about this for awhile, and John knew she may have been building a regret. "Don't… don't worry about the past. And don't force it to happen either." John thought about his own life, and how just letting it happen naturally for once was actually working out well. "Just… just let it happen. It will.. I know it will."

Alicia smiled, and carefully got up and moved to give John a small hug. When he groaned in pain, she backed off. "Oh god! I'm sorry!"

John winced, but still smiled. "S'ok… just sore." He spotted Sam heading down towards him from the opposite end of the infirmary holding a tray. Alicia spotted her too and looked down at John. "She really cares about you."

John shrugged. "She cares about _all _of us."

Alicia knew it was true, but seeing Sam's sunny smile as she neared by, she knew that maybe deep down she did stand a chance, but she hadn't gone one way or the other and now… like it or not, she was a part of this whole thing. "Hi, Colonel."

Sam smiled softly as she set the tray with some food and chess pieces down and mused. "I've told you Alicia, call me Sam. Colonel Carter is for crunch time."

Alicia nodded. "Alright… Sam." She looked down to John. "I'm gonna go see if Dusty's making sense anymore. Get better!"

John nodded and waved once. "See ya!"

Moving off, Alicia didn't bother looking back. She knew those two had spent their time together much more productively than she and John ever had. Playing X-box and shooting stuff was fun, but Alicia realized that she really only knew what he was like now… almost nothing about his actual life.

Moving off, she visited Dusty who still was mortified that she'd been delirious and everyone was supportive, but still snickering at her insane rambling. Alicia gave her a small hug, and finally moved off.

* * *

Taking off the mask, Dan cracked his neck and reached over for his canteen of water. He was surprised to find his hand run into a warm body. "What the…?"

Alicia slapped his hand away and laughed. "You wanna cop a feel you better try a lot harder than that."

Dan did a quick double take, then rolled his eyes. "That a challenge?" Balls had gotten him further than anything else, and Dan stared at a somewhat surprised Alicia's face.

For her benefit, Alicia kept the smile. "No, but I'm bringing Chuck's Wii to the infirmary to play with Dusty, figured you might wanna come along."

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Dan looked at the welded art he'd made. It looked like a burnt out and damaged main tower of Atlantis, just what he was trying. "Uhh sure. Lemme clean up and I'll swing by."

Watching him start to put the torch equipment away, Alicia thought about what John had told her. Deep down, yeah, she was attracted. But like John said… let it happen naturally... or not at all. "I'll give ya a hand. Where does this go?"

Dan raised an eyebrow, but then simply shrugged. "Next door. Just put it all on the cart."

Between the two of them, the oxy-acetylene torch was quickly put away and the two teammates headed down towards the infirmary to comfort their wounded friend.


	32. Green Thumb First Third

**Episode 15 – Green Thumb**

* * *

**A/N:**_ Reply to 111: Ronon's issues are much more complex than just Dusty, so far we've only seen it from Dusty's POV. we won't see what's up with Ronon in focus till Episode 19. We do get more info on the subject here though._

_Also for no reason, i feel the need to quote Star Trek V: The Final Frontier._

_**James T. Kirk to Sybok: **"I need my pain!"_

* * *

_225 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Wex:** How did you grow up?

**Dan Drake:** _How_ did I grow up? Don't you mean where?

**Wex:** One of the lessons I learned from Teyla is that _where_ you grow up doesn't matter, it's _how_ you grow and what you do that does.

**Alicia Vega:** In that case, I'm not sure he _ever_ grew up.

**Wex:** That… doesn't seem possible.

**Dan Drake:** Kid, remind me to bring a few movies next time. Growing up in DC in the 80s _definitely_ made a difference_._ Dave Chappelle can say it better than I can.

**Alicia Vega:** 'I'm Rick James, bitch'' ?

**Dan Drake:** …Exactly.

* * *

"Are you sure we should be here?"

Wex turned to Mila and nodded. "Of course! There's hardly any animals on the mainland so it's very safe."

Mila made a face and fingered the particle magnum on her hip. "Tell that to the guy who got bitten by that big flat tailed thing."

Wex had his knife looped around his thigh as they walked down towards a little creek he'd found the other day. Seeing Mila a little anxious as she held their little picnic basket in one hand, and the magnum she'd, in her words, 'borrowed' from Larrin, Wex felt more than comfortable. "You worry too much Mila, it's not like there's any Wraith anymore."

Shaking her head at a rather odd looking flower next to her, Mila swatted it out of the way along the lightly treaded path. "Me worry?! Next time, we'll go back to the _Sobek_ and you'll see how much I worry."

Wex furrowed his brow as he stepped over a fallen tree trunk, and then extended his hand out to Mila to help her across. Mila laughed at his chivalry. Wex screwed his face and pouted. "What?"

Mila didn't respond and instead snickered as she vaulted over the tree trunk. When Wex suddenly yelped and fell to the ground, Mila was worried she's smacked him with something. _"Wex! Oh gods I'm sorry!"_

On the ground now, Wex was suddenly pulled along the ground. _"Gah! Mila! Help!"_

Mila watched in horror as a vine tugged on Wex's right foot dragging him into the underbrush.

* * *

"I'm sorry, our schematics on Atlantis' power systems are non-negotiable."

Sam gave Daniel a slight smile. Being prepared with lists of what they were going to, what they could, and what they would never trade before this meeting had worked out well. "I agree with him, Menalus. Atlantis's power generation is something that will never be put into these trade agreements, so stop asking and wasting our time."

Behind Sam and Daniel, both John and Alicia stood as a sort of reminder that this was _their_ home, and they would fight to defend it.

Menalus moved his jaw from side to side in a hidden frustrated gesture. "Are we not both children of the Alterra? Do we not share a common enemy with the Shade?"

Sam faced off just as tersely. "The _Alterra_ are gone, Menalus. From what we've seen, taking on the Shade directly is pointless given their numbers, and after our first meeting, I'm more than willing to wait a good long time before I'm willing to trade our best with you."

Acting as a sort of middle man, Aulus leaned forward with his hands up. "Now, now, bickering will get us nowhere. We've worked out a reasonable agreement for now. Perhaps with time and trust we will come to a furthered agreement."

Sitting to the left of Sam, Radek smiled evilly towards Menalus. "Yes, and besides, Atlantis's power systems are built in. It's not like we added our own power to an inert city. We couldn't trade it to you even if we so chose to."

Sam didn't say anything, but she shared a glance with Daniel. Radek was saying more than he should, but it hadn't gotten serious enough to stop him yet. Menalus growled softly and looked to Radek. "We have spent our entire lives creating technology much like Atlantis. This city is a ship, and our homes are ships as well. If anything, we're more suited to study this city then you are!"

Radek snorted softly and smiled back. "You really have no idea do you? It is interesting to think that you actually _are_ more physically advanced."

Most of the Lanteans turned to Radek surprised. Radek's aggressiveness was something they weren't used to, but John found that he kinda liked it.

Menalus didn't scowl back, but instead smiled deviously. "Your attempts to goad me into a confrontation will not prove successful."

Grabbing Menalus's arm, Aulus gave him a look to stop the argument. They gave a quick back and forth of looks and in the end both seemed in agreement. Aulus turned to them. "I believe some time apart would be well for both of us. Your phrase "colder heads prevail" comes to mind."

Daniel smiled at Aulus's odd recitation. "I see you've been reading the cultural files we sent you."

Aulus nodded and stood. "They are quite entertaining, your culture is very different from our own. It is… " He stopped and seemed to stare off into the distance. "…_refreshing_."

Seeing that the meeting was over, Sam pushed herself up, quite content that her leg was feeling much better. She was hardly limping, but it was certainly stiff. "Very well, I assume you'll be heading back to your homeworld?"

Menalus cocked his head and half sneered. "No, but we will be going."

Unsure of what to make of that, Sam simply nodded and motioned. "You know where the Gate is."

* * *

Wex slashed at the vine still wrapped around his ankle, Mila fired the Particle Magnum into the underbrush trying to hit whatever it was dragging at him.

Finally, with a swift slash, Wex managed to finish cutting through the vine, which spewed green ooze out like a thick caustic blood over his torn pants. Mile reached down and dragged him to his feet "Run!"

Wex didn't question her tactics, and even with his sore ankle, he kept up to the surprisingly agile Mila. Five minutes of running would put them back at the village.

He didn't actively notice it, but what remained of the vine carefully inched forward and pulled the picnic basket into the underbrush.

* * *

"Proconsul Centaurus?"

Turning before he entered the Stargate, Aulus stared at Daniel who had called his name. "Doctor Jackson."

Daniel looked back at Sam and saw her imperceptible nod. The Olim delegation stopped before going through the gate. Daniel looked at Aulus, the almost scrawny yet chiseled look. It was scary in a way; ironic really, since Menalus was the one who looked almost cuddly. "Could we talk a minute? Alone?"

Aulus raised a single eyebrow in surprise. He waited a second, then motioned to the rest of his people, including Menalus. "Go, I will join you momentarily." He turned back to Daniel with the wormhole to the Olim planet still active. "I will hear what you have to say."

Daniel took a breath, and then spoke softly so only they could hear. "I'm curious… why are you the only one willing to see our side of this negotiation? Every time I talk to Vice-Consul Menalus it's like he's _demanding_ we give up everything."

Aulus narrowed his eyes somewhat in curiosity. "You could say I am the only one who understands, much like you." Aulus's face changed into a sterner look. "But I could compare Menalus to your own Doctor Zelenka."

Daniel smiled sarcastically. "Touché."

"Excuse me?" Aulus raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Wincing, Daniel realized that apparently the stargate translation thingamabob didn't translate French context. "It means you've got a point."

"Ah." Aulus turned to look at the stargate for a moment, and then back to Daniel. "Perhaps you do not know me as well as you would think. Menalus may be direct, but I do not disagree with him. Atlantis's technology could give us a great edge against the Shade…" Aulus sighed and stared Daniel down. "I will not explain my decisions, but I will say that patience is more valuable than any weapon. And unfortunately, much rarer."

Daniel now understood a bit. Aulus evidently knew how to be patient, which even among the Atlanteans was rare. There was more though; Aulus was also quite careful with his words, Daniel noted. "Fair enough. I hope we can come to an understanding sooner rather than later."

Aulus nodded. "On that, we agree. Good day, Daniel Jackson." Aulus gave Daniel an almost solemn wave of his hand.

In a similar manner, Daniel also waved goodbye. "Good day, Aulus Centaurus."

Watching the Olim leader walk through the gate, Daniel nodded to himself. They may not be the overall nicest people he'd ever met, but just like Aladdin, there were diamonds in the rough. Chuckling to himself at the movie reference he'd seen the night previous, he turned to see if anyone else was around.

He'd been left alone, surprisingly, and looking up into the office, he was surprised to see Sam and John releasing from what appeared to be a tight hug. Sam's face was ecstatic.

Guess John must have given her the good news.

* * *

"Honestly? I prefer Outpost Zeta Twelve's spider meat to that… _stuff_ the Olim are sending us."

Sam groaned softly as she lowered herself into her chair. "Seriously John, one of these days I'm going to _strangle_ you for picking that name. It's like I'm living in a constant rerun of the old Battlestar Galactica."

John sat down across from Sam and snorted. "And who're you? Starbuck?"

Sam rolled her eyes and threw a scrunched up paper ball at John. "Starbuck was a _guy_, and I'm still not convinced the new Starbuck's a girl either."

John laughed and stretched his arms. He had his devious smirk on and knew Sam was on guard. "I'd make a joke comparing you two, but that'd just be crass."

Giving him a death glare, John knew the implied tease was throughout gotten. "Oh and who are you supposed to be? Apollo?"

John shrugged. "Maybe in the mini-series. Honestly, I prefer Helo." He gave Sam a sidelong glance. "Well if you're not Starbuck, who are ya?"

Sam thought about it for a second, then shook her head. "No one, but I actually liked Kendra Shaw."

John furrowed his brow. "Who?"

Sam smiled as she realized that yet another person had missed it. "You haven't seen the Razor movie?"

Shaking his head. John replied. "No, Chuck's collected all the DVD's and movies he's been able to find but this is the first I hear of this."

Sam rubbed her hands together in contemplation. "Well, once we finish that we'll move onto Firefly, you'll love Jayne."

Narrowing his eyes, John stared at Sam. "Isn't Firefly that show that got cancelled because no one wanted to see cowboys in space?"

"Careful John… I have a crutch that I'm just looking to break on someone."

Snickering, John moved past. "Speaking of DVDs, just wish we could have gotten the last season before we left. Chuck's dying because he doesn't know how Starbuck came back."

Sam groaned softly and rubbed her face. "I'm scared to show Daniel. That's actually not that different than the times he came back from ascension." She snorted. "Daniel was nakeder though."

John loved this; the easy going nature with Sam was something he loved in everyone he worked with. But with Sam it was different… similar in a way to what he had with Elizabeth but… _deeper _in a way. He and Sam saw eye to eye on much more then Elizabeth… yet when they disagreed, the head butting wasn't as painful… most of the time. "You're gonna have to tell me more about that."

Sighing, Sam leaned back on her chair and gave John a distasteful look. "I can't believe you actually _ate _that spider meat." She shuddered. "Isn't it…_hairy?"_

John snorted and gave Sam a sarcastic smile. "Protein is protein, and like I said, better than that _stuff_ the Olim are sending." Growing slightly serious, John sighed. "They're not exactly being nice. Everything they're giving us is stuff that runs out fast, sure it's nice to have the same quality we had back in basic…" He saw Sam's sarcastic smile and knew his joke was gotten. "…But I'm really not seeing much potential unless they're willing to see things on our level."

Sam shook her head. "Long term, maybe, but short term? Our food stores are getting replenished and it's nice not to have to ration." She drummed her fingers on the desk. "You're right though, I might even bite the bullet and try the…_spider."_

It was said with such distaste that John had to laugh. "Hahaha! Well before that…" He looked at Sam deviously again, Sam idly wondered why God had given him such a powerful weapon as a smile like that."…I happen to know what tomorrow is."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What's tomorrow?"

John shrugged. "December 29th…"

Deciding to try and be ignorant, Sam shrugged around. "So…? We already celebrated Christmas. Not like the Travelers knew who Santa or Jesus or Willy Wonka was but New Year's isn't anything big around…"

John gave Sam a stare. "Sam…"

Giving him a slightly pleading look, Sam groaned softly. "Oh don't do this John… please. I'm already wondering how the hell you know but…"

Leaning forward, John reached into his pocket as he motioned his head to the mantle where their respective Fry and Leela statues stood. "I gave you Fry for Christmas… and I think he looks great with the Leela you gave me. _But…" _Pulling out the item, he laid it on the table. "I think you deserve this."

Sam furrowed her brow looking at the wrapped item. "An Oh Henry? John what…" Suddenly realizing that she hadn't seen an Oh Henry in 3 months, she realized what he was giving her. "Wait…John you…this…?"

John nodded. "Last one we have far as I know." He pulled her hand and wrapped her fingers around it as he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. _"Happy Birthday."_

Sam was momentarily speechless. This was incredible. John had actually decided to give something so… _precious_. Something so rare in their current situation. She didn't know what to say so she simply spoke whatever came to her. "I… John… god I… I can't accept this."

John snorted softly and nodded. "Yes, you can. And you will, or else I'm going to sit here and stare at you until either you eat it or it expires." He furrowed his brow. "I'm not very patient so I think you should have it sooner rather than later."

Sam snickered at the odd humor. She looked at the colorful wrapping and wondered just when John had decided to do this, and how the hell he'd found out it was her birthday. "You'd do it, wouldn't you? Stare at me until…"

John nodded. "And there's an ulterior motive. You're gonna need the carbs." He grinned widely. "Carson gave me the news because I offered to be your physio coach."

Sam's eyes grew to saucer sized. "Physio? You mean…?"

Again, John nodded. "Yep, his exact words were '_Tell her to come see me for her weekly check-up, but I've already cleared her for light workouts.'_"

Sam was ecstatic, the last few weeks without any training beyond small upper body work was killing her. Physiotherapy would suck, but it was a start. "Oh, that's a such a relief. My leg feels like a pegleg." She laughed softly and sighed contentedly. Looking down at the unopened chocolate bar she then smiled at John. "Split it with me?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Sam…"

Sam stared back at him. "_John…._ I'm already reprieving you for knowing your CO's birthday…" She smirked at her odd sense of humor. "The least you can do is share it with me." She held her arms out slightly, and John quickly took the hint.

Sam thought about how often she'd been hugging John recently. Christmas had been a joyful event, and the sheer ludicrocity of their mutual gifts had made it a great evening. Sam idly wondered if John had been influenced by her choice of movie that night in picking this gift.

While there was still a question burning in Sam's mind, she knew that time was still on her side. So she let go of John and sat back into her seat to keep working out how they could get better trade with the Olim, and already she had an idea of what to get him for _his_ birthday a few months from now.

* * *

"A plant… grabbed your leg… and tried to pull you away."

Wex nodded vehemently. "Yes! Ronon, I'm not lying! Look at my pants!"

Ronon instead looked at Mila who looked equally disheveled and even a little flushed. _"Right…"_

Mila didn't get Ronon's disbelief and barked. "He's telling the truth! I had to shoot it five times before it let go!"

Drawing her weapon, Ronon quickly snapped it out of her hand before an accident could be had. "Whoa! Careful with that!" Ronon skillfully flicked the safety on and tucked it into his pack. "Look, I don't care what you two do as long as you do it safely. No guns, no knives, and none of that rope tying I've heard from you people."

Both teenagers didn't have a _clue_ what the hell Ronon was talking about, so Wex growled and tugged up his torn pant leg. "Ronon… where's Teyla and Daniel?"

Rolling his eyes, Ronon looked to the side where Jinto and another Pegasus refugee were practicing their combat moves. It was sloppy and Ronon needed to snap the towel. "I think Teyla's in class with the young ones. Daniel's on Atlantis dealing with the Olim."

Still annoyed, Mila brushed past Ronon and moved towards the makeshift town hall they'd constructed that doubled as a school. Normally Daniel would be teaching about Atlantis and other useful skills, but with him on Atlantis recently for the talks with the Olim, Teyla had taken over and was teaching crop and harvesting techniques she'd learned in Atlantis from Katie Brown.

Before Wex could move past though, Ronon took him by the shoulder. "Hey."

Wex nearly tripped from the hard stop, ad he looked to Ronon. "What?"

Ronon stared at him. "Don't settle for something you don't want."

Wex furrowed his brow, and finally he understood what Ronon was talking about. "… Uhh okay." He hadn't been thinking about that at _all_ today. Mila was just a ton of fun because she wasn't used to the same things. Her intelligence made Wex feel like maybe he could learn a thing or two himself. Now that the looked though… yeah… she was really cute. "Are you telling me to…"

Ronon shook his head. "I'm not telling you to do anything but what _you_ want. What _you_…" Ronon squeezed Wex's shoulder. "… are happy with."

Unsure of what to say, Wex simply nodded and pushed past to where Mila had already pulled Teyla aside. "…almost killed us!"

Teyla already had one eyebrow raised, so she was obviously curious. "Wex… is this true?"

Unsure of what Mila was saying, Wex decided to just go with the flow. "Yeah! I think it stole our basket too."

Unlike Ronon, Teyla seemed much more curious than anything else. The children inside the building were already beginning to mess around, and one of the Travelers who were living with them had taken over. She thought back to something she'd noticed with Daniel and decided to try a lateral approach. "Have either of you been in my room recently?"

Shaking her head, Mila flatly denied it. "I'm a Traveler, not a thief."

Teyla could see that Mila was still a little wary of spending a week here with her, so she smiled reassuringly and soothed. "I would never think that of you, Mila."

Before Teyla could continue, Wex shrugged his shoulders. "I went in with Daniel a few days ago. He showed me a device that allows him to record life around us."

Teyla winced. Wex had often unintentionally misunderstood technology. "I believe you mean his camera. But did anything strange happen while you were there?"

Wex shrugged again in confusion. "Uhh no, not really."

Looking out into the forest, Teyla took a few moments to herself. Twenty feet away, Ronon had just given Jinto an ultimatum as far as his banto rod training went, and the screams were slightly annoying. "You truly think something attacked you out there? It was not a misunderstanding?"

Both teens shook their heads, and Teyla decided to see what was going on. "Very well, if there is something out there, though, I think perhaps we should be prepared." She turned to Mila. "You have had the genetic alteration to use Ancestral technology correct?"

Mila nodded and patted her arm. "Carson even gave me a lollipop."

Teyla smirked, and noted Wex give Mila a slightly jealous look. She thought for a moment about how the Traveler girl had decided to come and spend time here, both to assist in the installation of some computer controls and get to know the Pegasus settlers, as they'd come to start calling themselves. Wex could do worse, a hell of a lot worse, but at the same time Teyla found herself considering her culture, what she'd been raised with and what she would raise her own child with. "Let us go to the emergency jumper. Atlantis can send a proper team to do an investigation." She turned one final time. "That is unless you suddenly have a confession to give?"

Wex groaned and Mila made an annoyed noise in her throat. "No!"

Teyla smiled and motioned for them to follow. "Good, I did not teach you to be a trickster, Wex. Now come along." A worry had begun to creep into Teyla's mind, and the little 'pet' she and Daniel had adopted suddenly began to seem more and more dangerous.

* * *

"So it's a defibrillator?"

Rafaela nodded, and Alicia to the side gave an annoyed groan. "It looks like Mickey Mouse."

The lab was surprisingly quiet, and Daniel couldn't help but wish that something a little more exciting happened. "Then why didn't it respond to me?"

Alicia chuckled softly and she played around with the oddly shaped spherical device. "John told me that McKay used to bitch about the gene too. He said McKay used to say stuff like 'Damn Ancient technology whoring itself out to natural genes.'"

Rafaela winced and gave Alicia a gentle shove as she chuckled. "_Alicia!"_

The Major simply snickered in reply. "_Whaaat?_ It's not like _I _was the one saying it."

Daniel simply rolled his eyes in response to the playful camaraderie. He was reminded of all the times he himself would say something to Jack along the same lines.

Before he could really say anything though, Chuck's voice came over the radio. "_This is Chuck calling Doctor Jackson, you home Doc?"_

Daniel rolled his eyes. Chuck's fun loving was contagious and he had the inexplicable urge to say something comedic back. "Yes Chuck, Doctor Jackson is… in the house?"

Alicia winced at the bad joke but said nothing. Chuck simply snickered once and continued. "_Good to know Doc, you've got a call from the mainland. It's Teyla."_

Both Alicia and Rafaela put more devious grins on. Everyone and their mother's knew about Daniel and Teyla so Daniel made no attempt to hide anything. "Thank you Chuck, can you patch it to Rafaela's lab?"

_"Sure thing."_

Looking at both ladies, Daniel felt a slight urge to tease them on their similar looks. Vala's 'genetic pool' quip about him and Cameron came to mind. "If you'll excuse me, ladies."

Daniel walked away and heard whispering behind him. Moments after, they both broke out into a fit of sniggers and giggles. Sometimes he really did question whether he'd left highschool.

Sitting down apart from them, Daniel keyed in his login and opened up the communication link awaiting him. Teyla's smiling face appeared with Wex and Mila behind, playing the age old game of _"Stop poking yourself" _with Mila winning. "Hey, Teyla." He heard Wex cry out as Mila jabbed him in the ribs, and then fight back with some strange twirl of his hand. "The kids bothering you?"

Teyla snorted and rolled her eyes. "No, Daniel, with Ronon here, things have been quite calm, if a little…' She turned to Wex and Mila and gave them a pointed stare. Both instantly became perfect little angels seated in the back of the Jumper. "…_playful."_

Daniel laughed softly and sighed. "Well then, is there something you need?"

Teyla sighed. "Our 'pet' may have some friends."

* * *

"Barber Shop of Horrors?"

Even John shuddered at hearing Chuck's reference. "Chuck, how many movies do you watch a day?"

Scratching his chin, Chuck looked down at the screen. "Uhh… my VLC playlist says 43 hours of video a day."

Sam blinked at the improbability, decided to just ignore it for the sake of the space-time continuum, and saw Daniel palm his forehead. "Chuck… how long does it actually take you to schedule everyone?"

Shrugging, Chuck replied as he sat on his newly padded control chair. "Uhh 'bout two hours? The rest I work on designs for Larrin, help Laura with inventorying everything, I hit the gym every now and again."

Without the IOA breathing down their necks, the amount of paperwork had dropped staggeringly. Sam hated to admit it, but she herself found there were times when she had little to do and had to walk around to find something she could busy herself with. "Design? In AutoCAD?"

Daniel made an annoyed grunt and got everyone's attention. "Uhh, hello!? Wex got attacked by a _plant!_ I think this merits some investigation."

Sam turned to John and shrugged, now back on topic. "I think so too, feel like a field trip?"

John shrugged. "Love to, but Carson says I need a physical. Something about vitamin deficiencies and free radicals."

Both Sam and Chuck groaned softly. However, Chuck was the one to speak. "You too? Guess that spider isn't as healthy as we thought."

Daniel gave John a glare. "And this has _what_ to do with the mainland?"

Sighing, John screwed his face in thought. "Have you asked Leese? I don't think her team's doing anything important today, so they could probably go. Worse comes to worst you can take some of the Travelers in training, but uhh…" John let his thoughts sit there, Daniel looked appeased.

Sam nodded and scratched the end of her nose. "Take what you think you'll need. Even though I'm not convinced that this is that dangerous, it's better to be safe that sorry."

Somewhat pleased now, Daniel nodded. "Thank you, now I gotta go back the same way I came to find Alicia. You'd think transporters made this place easy to navigate…"

Chuckling at Daniel's behavior, Chuck turned back to his screen. "Chuck?"

Turning again, Chuck could see that John had moved off, but Sam remained standing behind him. "Yes, Ma'am?"

Sam smiled. "How good have you gotten at AutoCAD?"

* * *

Alicia hadn't been to the mainland since her initial exploration two weeks after arriving in the galaxy. The fact that she'd gotten her ass kicked by that Olim still smarted, but overall she felt confident that this trip would be funnier.

Already Rafaela and Reyna had said they couldn't go. Ella was busy trying to find useful Ancient devices both to trade and use themselves, and Reyna seemed unusually fascinated with a documentary Carson had gotten her about Europe. Something about Aurora Boars or something, Alicia never really cared much but evidently, they fascinated Reyna.

That left Dusty and Drake. Dusty had already said yes, though Alicia could see some hesitation. Maybe her breakup with Ronon hadn't been as smooth as she once thought.

Alicia had reached Dan's quarters and was about to chime the bell when she realized this was his day off, and Dan certainly wasn't one to waste a day off. The sneaky thing to do was listen to the door and see if he had company… maybe even time his rhythm. In the end Alicia just decided to radio him. "This is Vega calling Drake, Dan you there?"

A few moments passed, and Dan's voice came in clearly. "_Yeah I'm here, what's up?"_

Alicia didn't hear any moaning or complaints, so she was relatively sure he was alone. "Need to talk to you, you got time?"

_"Yeah, just chillin' like a villain, doors unlocked if you wanna swing by."_

Oh he _so_ didn't know what was about to happen. Alicia smiled deviously and felt vindicated that she'd get to surprise the man. "Sure, I'll be there right…." She tapped on the open button, and jumped into the room. "_NOW!"_

To her slight horror, Dan was standing by the door to the bathroom having just freshly showered. Thankfully he wasn't facing her and his gut instinct reaction was to grab the nearest towel and hold it over his more personal areas. "_The fuck are you doing!?"_

It was too strange, and Alicia couldn't help but see the curvature of… "_Ahhh!" _She quickly averted her gaze and spun around, Life had decided to preempt her trick and now she was forever haunted by the sight of Dan holding a towel that almost failed to hide him. "The hell's the matter with you, Maj? Ever hear of knocking? You want a show you, gotta ask!"

Now confused over whether or not to laugh, scream or cry, Alicia simply closed her eyes and bit her thumb. "Oh _god…. _ Look umm… Teyla asked me if… we could go and give her a hand on the mainland and uhh…" She started giggling hysterically, this was by far the last thing she'd considered and the open doorway was all too tempting. "Uhhh, I can come back…"

Grunting in mirth, Dan muttered. "Don't matter now, pants are on."

Alicia risked a glance, and saw Dan zip up the leather pant section of his uniform. Despite already having promised herself to keep that part of her personality separate from her professional side, she had to admit, Dan was pretty fit. "Sorry. I just… I dunno, I wanted to freak you out."

Dan pulled his light blue sweatwicking shirt on and opened the closet where his outer layer uniform was. "Well, it worked. Guess I'll have to actually start _locking_ that door from now on."

Alicia could only internally groan and thank the gods that maybe this wouldn't get out.


	33. Green Thumb Second Third

"Did you know the Major's a total pervert?"

Were she not flying the Jumper, Alicia would reach over and strangle the life out of her second in command. "I said I was sorry!"

Daniel simply gave them a dumbfounded look. "Uhhh, I'm not going to ask."

Dusty on the other hand was already laughing. "_Aw shit!_ What'd you do, Leesh?"

Blushing heavily now, Alicia shook her head. "_Dan…_"

So of course Dan did. "She figures she'll jump out and scare me in my quarters, walks in just as I step outta the shower."

Dusty started cackling, Daniel was reminded of similar incidents back in the SGC and one particular flag he'd had to use. "Did you at least have a towel?"

Alicia's face was burning, and in the distance, she noted the village with the fire in the center where food was being cooked. She figured she may as well bite the bullet and get it over with. _"Partially."_

Dusty was merciless, and Drake simply rolled his eyes. "I'm tellin' you what I told her, you want a show, you ask."

Daniel furrowed his brow and tried not to show his… well disgust was too strong a word, but he was certainly disquieted by the Captain's behavior. "That's… fascinating."

* * *

"Thank you for coming, Alicia. I'm not convinced that this is all that dangerous a situation, but I've learned to be cautious."

Alicia nodded and looked around the village. "Happy to help. John sends his regards."

Teyla smiled, and she then turned to Daniel. "Are you going to be coming with us?"

Daniel shrugged mock innocently. "I was thinking of it. Nice day in the woods."

To the side, Drake and Dusty moved off towards the sparring circle where Ronon was training Jinto and another youth who was still beating Jinto in hand to hand. Teyla chuckled and motioned. "Come, we will gather our equipment and set out in a bit. Would you like to see the village?"

Alicia nodded. "Sure, it's nice to get off Atlantis every now and again."

Daniel moved into step with Teyla, and she easily wrapped her arm around his. Alicia had heard that they were openly having a relationship, and in a way she felt jealous to not have someone she could trust like that. Daring a look over at Dan, she pushed that thought out of her mind. She knew more about him than most of the others and knew it was just a headache.

At the sparring circle, Ronon growled as he saw Jinto finally land a hit against his opponent. The other youth was shorter but had much more control over his strikes. "Alright, alright… take a break, five minutes and we'll try a rematch." He looked at Jinto. "You better do better this time or next time you'll be fighting _me."_

Jinto shuddered at the thought, and as he sat down he took a few sips from his water bottle. Dusty saw a strange look in Drake's eye, then watched as the Captain moved over and began to talk to Jinto.

Dusty on the other hand found that Ronon was walking right up to her, exactly the opposite direction she wanted him to. Guess she had to face the music sometime. "Duvali."

She winced at the name, and found she couldn't look at Ronon in the eyes. "Hey Ronon."

Awkward silence, until Ronon broke it. "So you're coming after the killer plants?"

Dusty shrugged and looked anywhere but his face. "Well… maybe not killer, but yeah... Leesha asked me to come."

Another pause, and Ronon again broke it. "Look at me."

He was being so confrontational over it. So what if Dusty wasn't looking for anything committed? She didn't want anything tying her down… that's what she was running away from back on Earth. "No."

Ronon didn't insist. "Fine. I'm coming with you guys."

Unable to give any reason to the contrary, Dusty merely hitched up her small bag and pulled away. "Right, we leave in a few minutes…"

Ronon was left standing there, his posture strong and inside, his heart stronger. He'd made his decision and now he had to stick by it come hell or high water, or in this case, vermicious killer plants.

Back at Teyla's house, Alicia had just finished giving Teyla and Daniel the equipment she'd brought from Atlantis. Both looked rather spiffy in the old Expedition tac-vests. Teyla found herself intrigued by Alicia's uniform. "I have not seen your uniform before. Is it something the Travelers made?"

Alicia nodded. "Well, since we're technically not a part of Earth anymore, Larrin and Colonel Carter thought it best if we used our own style of uniform." Alicia posed a bit and showed off the design.

Teyla mused to herself as she ran a finger along the leather edging on the arms. "It looks very… _Traveler._"

Daniel chuckled. "I like it. Larrin promised to make more as soon as we can find a newer source of leather than their old clothing." He slapped his hands together and motioned to his desk. "Alright! Here's the 'pet' I was telling you about."

Alicia turned and followed. Sitting there on Daniel's desk was a rather large flower; it looked vibrant and actually very pretty. "Okay."

Daniel pulled out a piece of Traveler chocolate from his pocket, and motioned with his head. "Watch."

Staring and wondering if Daniel had lost his mind, Alicia noted that the flower seemed to quiver slightly. She'd seen a lot of things, but as Daniel left the chocolate on the desk, the flower literally bent over and, using its petals, grabbed a hold of the small piece of chocolate as if it were a hand. "Holy _shit!"_

Teyla winced. "Not my choice of words, but yes. I was equally surprised." She sighed and attached her machete to her belt. "We collected another and sent it to Atlantis, but with botany being such a low priority, I doubt we will find out how it can do that in any short period of time."

Alicia nodded and watched as the flower munched on the small piece of chocolate. "Creepy."

* * *

All set, Wex stood and watched alongside the two soldiers from Atlantis as Jinto and Mallin began their match. To everyone's surprise, Jinto managed to dodge Mallin's initial strikes, and even defend by evading in a very low position. Wex heard a small "_yeah" _from the side and saw Drake pointing Jinto out to Dusty. "Watch."

Wex watched even though he wasn't the person being asked to, and to his sudden shock, Jinto ducked beneath one strike and got a good hold of Mallin's shirt.

It was almost dishonorable what happened next, as Jinto raised the boy's shirt up and looped it around his head. It was more along the lines of something boys would do in playfights, and Wex had done this sort of thing before with Jinto back in Pegasus. The fight was over almost as soon as it began as Jinto got Mallin in a headlock and Ronon called it off.

Drake was smiling, a few tips and thoughts and he'd given Jinto the confidence he needed. As well as the fact that wearing a shirt while brawling wasn't the smartest thing to do. He turned to look for Alicia and the others when he noted Wex watching him. "Hey there."

Wex looked at Jinto, then Dusty, then finally to Drake. "You taught Jinto that?"

Drake nodded, and noticed Ronon had realized it as well. "Yep."

Ronon moved over and faced off with Drake. "Dan… the hell was that?"

Looking up at Ronon, Dan shrugged. "He won, didn't he?" Not allowing any argument, Drake turned and walked off towards where Teyla, Daniel and Alicia were standing. Ronon didn't say anything and instead turned to Wex. "You're going with them?"

Wex nodded. "I gotta show 'em where it happened."

Ronon looked up, and then back to Jinto, who didn't know whether to be proud or not. Ronon growled softly and said. "I'm going too, get your gear."

* * *

"He's doing it again…"

Alicia snorted, and used her machete to cut through the thick foliage. Dan couldn't help but notice the way Wex kept looking at him every now and again. "He's just a kid, let him."

Dan growled softly and moved under the freshly chopped plant. "And if he were staring at you?"

Alicia shrugged. "A year with you around and I'm used to it."

Now Dan groaned and shook his head. "Why do I even talk to you?"

Alicia laughed and looked over to where Daniel and Dusty of all people were having a little chat. "You love me, just admit it. Confession is good for the soul."

Dan rolled his eyes and groaned again, only this time emphatically. "Last time I went into a church I think I pissed off God enough to account for all the shit that's happened to me." He winced, somehow knowing that Wex was looking at him again. "God, now I know what it's like for a girl with big tits."

Alicia gave him a glare, but silenced when seeing Wex finally approach them. The young Athosian man sidled up to Drake and spoke softly. "Excuse me?"

Dan turned and nodded. "Yeah?"

"You're Dan Drake aren't you?"

Alicia snorted. Wex had said it with an almost reverence. "Last time he checked."

Dan ignored Alicia's quip and nodded. "You know me?"

Wex shook his head. "Ronon's mentioned you. And you're Vega right?"

Now it was Dan's turn to tease her. "She could be Rafaela. Hard to tell the two apart if you're not looking carefully."

Alicia glowered at Dan, but nodded to Wex. "Yeah, I'm Vega. Alicia Vega. You're Wex right?"

Wex nodded. "Ronon's talked a lot about you, how you used to fight the Wraith."

The path was slowly closing in on them, in another few minutes they'd reach the area where Wex had been attacked. Dan tried not to pay attention to the foliage around but it was oddly… _viney._ "Really? What'd he say?"

Alicia kept her pedantic nature. "Yeah, Wex, what _did_ Ronon say?"

Curious as to why his ears were going red, Wex simply replied. "He said you were… _harder._ Also something about a video of you two…"

Dan quickly changed his demeanor and started laughing. Alicia looked quite mortified and waved to Wex. "_At-tut-tut!_ That's… that's alright."

Wex was still confused, were these two friends or…? "Ummm. Okay."

Interrupting them, Teyla stopped and waved to Wex. "Come, Wex, show me where it happened."

Wex scurried ahead, and, seeing the large tree trunk he'd vaulted over, pointed. "There, that's where it grabbed me."

Ronon moved ahead from where he'd been talking with Daniel and looked around. He furrowed his brow and then looked to the trees. "Something happened… looks like something got dragged here." Unsheathing his sword, Ronon was now on guard. "Could have been an animal."

Teyla nodded to Daniel and they both unholstered their weapons. Alicia did the same as she pulled out her Particle Magnum. "Watch my six?"

Dan smirked, and Alicia knew what was coming. "Always do."

Sometimes, Alicia didn't know whether to smack Dan, or try and tease him into submission... if she even could.

* * *

"I have not seen you in weeks, Dusty, how are things?"

Dusty shrugged. "Big bugs, big crystal bug things, and a lot of things have been bugging me recently."

Teyla snickered as the woman's alliterate speech. "So you are… 'buggered'?"

Dusty snorted, she only peripherally knew UK slang, but it was still funny. "You could say that." Sighing, Dusty smacked an errant leaf out of her way. "I guess I'm just trying to see where I fit now. The team's nice and all, but…" Dusty's gaze zoomed out. Teyla could see she was feeling lost.

Smiling with a reassuring grin, Teyla motioned for Dusty to follow her along the path where Wex had said he'd been. "You are always welcome, and I'm sure we could find something to put your talents to use."

Dusty snickered. "Well my talents include mouthing off, killin' stuff, and accidentally eavesdropping."

Teyla rolled her eyes with a smile. "On second thought, perhaps you could learn something from _us."_ Both women laughed, and after a moment Teyla decided to get to the heart of the matter. "Ronon misses you."

Dusty lost her smile somewhat. "Yeah well… He made his choice."

Teyla shrugged. "Have you?"

Uncomfortable with the line of discussion, Dusty not so subtly changed the subject. "Doesn't matter. Do you think a plant really attacked Wex?"

If it was obvious to everyone else, Teyla nearly scoffed at how bluntly Dusty sidestepped the question. "Perhaps. We have seen many different forms of life in this galaxy and I would not be surprised…" She froze for a moment and saw the tree trunk Wex had talked about. "We shall soon see."

* * *

Ronon growled at the question before speaking. "I'm here for Teyla, just like you."

Daniel shrugged. "Well I'm not questioning that. But I am curious as to why you're making such a big deal of this."

Ronon turned and snarled. "It's _not _a big deal!"

It was too easy, and Daniel couldn't help but enjoy the simplicity of life here. Then again, he missed arguing with Jack and Teal'c since they were such worthy opponents. "I never said it was."

Ronon shuddered in anger. "Well, then why do you keep bringing it up!?"

Daniel ended the conversation with a single phrase. "Why do you keep defending it?"

Finding no good reply to that, Ronon stalked off on his own, he had to keep attention on the foliage around him just in case Wex was telling the truth and it wasn't some crazy Traveler induced insanity.

_'Dammit….'_ Ronon couldn't help his thoughts, they kept betraying him as he hacked through the forest now uncaring of whether he was going in the right direction, as long as he didn't get too far separated he'd be fine.

_'Damn it.'_ He missed her. It hurt tremendously to think about it but _by the ancestors _did he miss her. Swinging the machete in front of him, Ronon sliced a new path into the forest, his large frame easily brushing aside the vines and flowers in his way.

_'God… Damn… it.'_ He shouldn't miss her, not this way. He knew that given her answer, she likely didn't miss him nearly this much. That's why he was so angry at Drake. The man had the uncanny ability to be open about this stuff and…. And it saved him from investing in something he shouldn't.

_'Mother fu….' _

Before Ronon could finish the thought, he felt his arm suddenly jerk to a halt mid-swing. He turned to see what the hell had grabbed him when his opposite leg suddenly flung up into the air.

Reacting, Ronon flicked his wrist and the machete fell to the floor cutting through the vine holding his hand. He fell to the floor hard, and twisted his body loosening the grip of the vine on his leg.

As he tried to get up, he felt a pair of slaps go across his face sending him back to the ground. Roaring in defiance, Ronon swung around again using his own momentum to bounce from the ground and swing the machete around wildly. He felt another hard slap to the side, this one hard enough to send him a few feet to the side.

He landed and rolled; whatever this thing was, it was _fast._ Ronon swung his machete into a backhand hold and began to spin around as if in a dance. The reverse-held blade hissed as it cut through the air and vines going around him.

And that's when the subtly beautifully hued flowerhead came out of nowhere and smacked him across the face like an openhanded slap.

* * *

"How did you grow up?"

Dan did a double take at the question. **"**_How_ did I grow up? Don't you mean where?"

Wex shook his head as they circled the area around them and searched for any signs of disturbance. **"**One of the lessons I learned from Teyla is that _where_ you grow up doesn't matter, it's _how_ you grow and what you do that does."

To Dan's surprise, Alicia piped in from opposite Wex as she kicked over a small log to see what was underneath. "In that case, I'm not sure he _ever_ grew up."

Not understanding, Wex scratched his head. "That… doesn't seem possible".

Feeling the need to get the matter settled, Dan spoke fast and hard. "Kid, remind me to bring a few movies next time. Growing up in DC in the 80s _definitely_ made a difference_._ Dave Chappelle can say it better than I can."

Alicia started laughing, and a pulled a face before putting on an exaggerated accent. " 'I'm Rick James, bitch'' ?"

Wex looked horrified at Alicia's language. Evidently the second season of "Chappelle's Show" didn't reach distribution in Teyla's settlement. Dan simply stared at Alicia for a moment, and then gave her a mocking double point of his fingers in an exaggerated praise. "…Exactly."

He'd no sooner finished his jest than a roar came from the woods. "Is that…?"

To his surprise, Teyla and Dusty quickly got into defensive modes. "Ronon!"

The shrubs nearby began to shake and quiver, and in the dusk air it seemed eerily disturbing. All the soldiers held their weapons at the ready, either rifle or machete. Wex began to breath harder, but with his hunting knife drawn and standing next to Dan with his FN-SCAR, he seemed okay.

Slowly they moved forward, but before they'd taken more than four steps, Ronon burst out from the edge of the thick banana-like leafs, looking like he'd just been attacked by confectioner's sugar. "Aaaatch-_CHOO!"_

No one had heard Ronon sneeze before now, and with the powder on his face, it blew a great dust cloud that obscured the area in front of him.

To everyone's surprise, Daniel was the first to react. "Ronon! Good god, what happened?"

Ronon dropped to his knees and tried to wipe away the white powder from his face. Both Teyla and Dusty knelt down to assist him, while Alicia and Drake covered them, Drake with his rifle and Alicia with her Particle Magnum.

Sniffling and trying to clear his eyes, Ronon began to mumble. "Something grabbed me… took my blade, smacked me around. I think I killed it, but I landed in a bunch of… _Ahhh-CHOO!"_

Teyla took out a napkin and began to wipe carefully at his eyes. Dusty took the stuff out of his hair and sneezed once herself "_Aatchoo!"_

Ronon finally seemed to recover, and he pushed away both women helping him. "I didn't see it… but it used the vines like rope. Tied me up and slapped me around."

Dan grimaced and muttered. "Sounds like a couple animes I've seen."

Dusty suddenly screeched as if frustrated beyond belief. "_OH GOD! You just HAD to say it didn't you!? You couldn't just THINK it!" _She shuddered and immediately held her machete out like a sword. _"Fuck this shit! _We should leave, _NOW!"_

Daniel held his hands up diplomatically. "Now wait just a minute. We _are_ cutting down a lot of plants. Maybe if it was a plant it was just defending itself."

Ronon spit the last of the powder out of his mouth and cleaned his blade on his pant leg. "Tell that to the flower that punched me."

Alicia bit the snort back, but, seeing something moving in the brush, screamed instead. "_There!"_

Dan spun around and held the trigger down. Firing from the hip, his shots shattered the odd calm of the fast approaching night and tore pockmarks all about the undergrowth. The movement jerked around quickly, and to the team's surprise, the entire forest around them seemed to suddenly start moving, slowly, almost as if it were only the wind, but there was no wind to speak of.


	34. Green Thumb Third Third

a.n: Forgot to mention earlier, but many thanks to **Neela** for betating, abd **TheIceMenace** for inadvertantly helping me with Dusty's last scene during one of our conversations (you'll see) and i laud and thank her:D She's always doing that :D Many thanks to you both.

* * *

Letting go of the trigger, Dan watched as the smoke from the weapon's fire wafted out of the barrel, smoking cartridges on the floor slowly sizzling.

The plants were still moving, still creeping around them. No one knew exactly what was going on and Ronon growled angrily. "We need fire! Burn the _melakatas!"_

Teyla was the only one to understand Ronon's dip into an old Satedan dialect, and she realized just how angry Ronon had gotten. "We must fall back! Night is coming!"

The odd mix of things happening to her brought the idea to Alicia, and she knew a way to hold back the plants in their retreat. "That's it! Dan!?" She looked to Dan and holstered her machete. "Gimme your booze."

Dan did a slight double take; several thoughts when through his mind. The first of which was there was no way he was having a drink now even if it was with Alicia, and then _how the hell did she even KNOW_ _he had booze? _"What?!" She began to reach into his pockets even as he backpedaled, and when he saw something slithering ahead he fired a burst around Alicia, who was likely having way too much fun invading his privacy. "Hey stop! That tickles!"

Frustrated that she was only finding random doodads he carried instead of her prize, Alicia screeched. "Dan! Booze! NOW!"

Seeing that the only way to get him off her _(Which he kinda didn't want to do but nevertheless) _was to give it up, Dan let go of his rifle, whipped out his metal Mickey from his rear pants pocket and reloaded his weapon all in one large motion. "_Sranje! _Here!"

The others had just found opposition in the path heading back to Teyla's settlement, and Ronon howled a bloodlust cry as he raised his blade in defiance. He wasn't surprised that Dusty and Teyla stood beside him, with Daniel covering Wex with his Particle Magnum.

So it came as a huge surprise when Alicia broke through the space between Dusty and Ronon and seemed to breath fire out like a dragon as she held her lighter to her mouth.

The plants instantly jerked back, and the path was clear. Alicia grimaced and made a retching noise. "_Eughtch!"_ Despite this, she took another swig of the high proof moonshine Dan was famous for making and motioned with her hand forward. "_Mrroo! Mrroo!"_

Teyla was relatively sure Alicia wasn't imitating a cow, so she did as she was told. "Go, go, go!"

Dan covered the rear with Daniel, both firing into the crowd of plants as Dusty and Ronon faced any opposition with their respective weapons. Teyla held her machete ready to fight at any moment. Alicia still led the pack, and after a few more steps, breathed out another dangerously unstable burst of liquor flame from her mouth.

Alicia nearly gagged; she was used to sipping this stuff, not gargling it. It burned horribly and not from the flame. Some even found its way into her stomach and she knew she'd be tipsy before this was over.

Feeling the need to take action, Ronon rushed ahead and sliced one vine that had dropped down from above seemingly heading for Alicia's unprotected rear. He jumped and, with a mighty swing, shred the plant in half.

As he landed though, another vine shot out and aimed straight for his neck.

Wex was the nearest person, having broken into a run at Teyla's behest. At this fast speed, it wouldn't be long before they were clear of the plants. "Ronon!"

Reacting instinctively, Ronon turned and tried to defend against the vine. It slapped at him and seemingly pushed him back to the floor.

Horrified that Ronon was about to get vined, Wex rushed forward and swung his blade with all his strength.

Confusing as the grapple was, another burst of flame ahead silhouetted Ronon for Wex… too late as the blade now swung clearly for Ronon's neck.

Only his heightened reactions and instincts saved Ronon. The vine next to his head was cut and spasmed as if in pain, and the majority of the left side of Ronon's hair was separated from his head as Wex's razor sharp blade flew past.

Instincts took over and Ronon grabbed Wex's hand, quickly dislodging the knife. Instead of spinning him around and breaking his neck though, Ronon simply dragged him along.

Teyla now fought back to back with Daniel. The vines now realizing that the group was getting away, only little potshots of slapping attacks struck out at them.

Alicia took the last bit of moonshine in the Mickey, waited until everyone had gotten clear of the edge of the woods, and sprayed it out of her mouth towards the floor. The liquor and air mixture spraying out hit her zippo's flame and ignited in a makeshift napalm, quickly setting alight the path and providing them cover for their escape.

Dan took a moment to cover Alicia and pulled her up. "Come on, Alicia!"

Feeling the effects of the three or four shots she'd accidentally drunken at high speed, Alicia turned and drunkenly beat on Dan's chest. "I _rankout _you! You tell me what _can't_ to do!"

Dan didn't understand her fully, but he knew it didn't matter. "Come on!"

Now both running, the team escaped the forest that had now somehow come alive.

* * *

"Reyna?"

The Traveler woman bobbed her head up and down, the giant headphones pulsating from some beat inside. Carson couldn't help but giggle at the odd sight of Reyna sitting on her chair in her office, her knees up to her chin as she went over the physicals for the crew they'd been taking.

"Reeeyna?"

Even enunciating it loudly didn't get through, and Carson saw she was humming and softly singing to herself. .."…_waiting alone I cannot resist …"_

Carson didn't recognize the song, but he still chuckled to himself. His question could wait a minute or two and she had a nice voice.

_"…feeling this hate I have never missed…"_

Doing a double take, Carson froze as Reyna continued humming along cheerfully.

"_… please someone give me a reason to rip off my… face!"_

Shocked and horrified, Carson questioned _where _Reyna could have gotten a hold of such a depressing song. "Reyna!"

Still she didn't hear, and she finished the lyric off. "_Blood is a pouring and pouring and pouring…" _ with each 'pouring' Reyna bobbed her head enthusiastically, and Carson could feel her smile even from behind her. _"and pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring SHUT UP WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"_

Now utterly aghast, Carson screamed. _"Doctor Arius!"_

Finally hearing him, Reyna turned her head and put a concerned face as she shifted into a seated position and took the headphones off. The distinctive screams and guitar riffs of a nu-metal band hummed out of the loose headphones she took off. "Carson? What's wrong?"

Carson didn't know where to start. "Well for one, you seem to enjoy pouring blood! Secondly, why would you want to rip off your face!? And finally, what have I told you about wearing those headphones? What if someone needed you and couldn't speak up?"

Reyna winced. "Sorry. Chuck let me borrow his CD collection and it's just too tempting. Your culture back on your planet seems so diverse. If we ever make it back I can go to a nation like Norway and see just about every environment available on your planet."

Seeing that she was completely unconcerned with the lyrics of the song, Carson had to know what the hell was going on. "Reyna… are you even listening to what you're singing?"

Reyna nodded. "Yeah, it's a sad song. Chuck says the band is…" She screwed her face. "Emo wimps? I don't know what that means, but Chuck says that it all sounds the same. It's the first time I'm hearing it and I've got to admit, I kinda like the way the lyrics seem made for someone who's alone."

Palming his forehead, Carson simply chose to ignore this for now. "Alright, alright… I still think you'll like Scotland more, but that's not what I needed to see you about."

Before he could continue, their radios squawked to life. _"This is Major Vega to Atlantis! We're coming in and we have… wounded. Nothing serious, but I think we should check them out."_

A moment later, Chuck's voice overrode the transmission. "_You get that, Docs? Ronon's got some contamination or something. They're gonna wait for you at the Jumper bay."_

Carson sighed. "Yes, Lieutenant. We heard. We'll be there shortly."

Reyna quickly got up to her feet and set her tablet on the table. "Guess we've got our first real patient of the night."

Carson moved over and grabbed his coat. "We've had fifteen people tonight with food sickness. And another fifty with other maladies. Granted, this sounds worse than an upset stomach, but I _prefer_ it to be quiet."

Reyna nodded and put her own coat on. "You know what I mean. And this infirmary is too small to handle all these small cases even with the new medics."

Carson smiled, and he held the door open to allow Reyna through. "Actually I was thinking about that..."

Reyna smiled and waited for Carson outside. "Good! Now walk beside me so I can be sure you're not checking out my… " She exaggerated the word she'd learned. "…_Bum."_

Realizing that she was flirting lightly, Carson responded in the typical Traveler way he'd learned from all the people around him. "If I wanted to check out your bum, I'd order you to get inoculated."

Reyna laughed long and hard at that one.

* * *

"Is Ronon…?"

Alicia nodded, and held her head with one hand. "Yeah… He wasn't allergic, those plants coated him in the stuff. Reyna said it was like pollen, except stickier."

Sam grimaced, seeing that Alicia was not in the best condition. "You okay?"

Beside her, Dan gave Alicia a gentle and reassuring rub on the back. "She hasn't touched any booze in a few months and it went right to her head."

Larrin did a double take, but Sam was the one to reply as they all sat in her office. "Drinking? I assume there's a good reason why you were drinking while in potentially hostile conditions?"

Alicia nodded. "Yes… needed fire. It's a long story, but the point is that we might want to send a properly armed team to explore. Those plants were alive and we've got no clue how they moved, or even felt us."

John and Sam looked to each other, each with their own worry. They held a silent communication with facial tics, eye moments, and even a shoulder shrugging. Sam finally sighed and leaned her head on her palms. "I guess that's the best thing to do."

To everyone's surprise, Larrin interrupted. "Wrong. If those plants are hostile we need to get rid of them. Now."

John looked to Larrin and gave her a _'come on' _look. "They're plants, Larrin. I doubt they're planning on invading. It's a small concern."

Larrin scowled at John. "Yeah well, I've learned that big concerns grow from small concerns. I've got almost two thousand people on that mainland and I'm _not_ risking them!"

Sam was surprised at Larrin's hostility. "Larrin, what are you…?"

Shaking her head disgustedly, Larrin moved towards the door. "I'm taking care of it _my _way. Those plants won't be _any_ problem."

Larrin stormed out shocking everyone with her anger. Alicia recovered slightly from her alcohol headache and turned to John and Sam. "What crawled up _her_ ass?"

Sam winced at the metaphor, thought of an even more horrible one of her own, then replied. "She's got a right to be worried, but what did she mean her…" Realizing what it meant, Sam turned to John who had already figured it out. "John… how far is Teyla's village from the forest?"

John rubbed his forehead in disbelief. "Far enough…."

Dan didn't get it, and he looked to the other three in confusion. "What? Far enough for what?"

Nobody felt like filling him in.

* * *

Teyla was furious. She stood on the Atlantis balcony next to Daniel simply because she wanted to see for herself what level of destruction the Travelers were capable of. What disgusted her was the dozens of others on the various other balconies who had heard of the display and watched for it to begin as a form of entertainment. "I had hoped the Travelers would be more agreeable. They've been helpful on the mainland, but this is intolerable."

Daniel pulled Teyla into a hug and shook her in place. "It's okay Teyla… I know it's wrong. But it's the safest way."

Still very angry, Teyla let go of her repression and let out her anger. "She is _not_ worthy of being a leader. A warrior yes, but she leads with a blunt edge. Not everything is solved with sex or a weapon."

Unsure of where sex had entered the conversation, Daniel simply ignored it. "I agree, and I think we should study them and see if we could even come up with a way of coexisting. We did it back in the Milky Way with a group of aliens called Unas."

Teyla sighed and dropped her head onto Daniel's shoulder. "I only wish John and Samantha could have convinced her not to do this."

Daniel knew the truth: Sam was against it, but unwilling to argue with Larrin, whereas John was indifferent. Nature was as much a part of the ecosystem as they were and it had as much right to life as they did. But he wasn't ready to frustrate Teyla even more, so he simply remained silent.

Teyla finished her thoughts with a whisper. "I did not bring my people to this mainland only to see these… _Travelers…_ destroy it."

Daniel decided to play Devil's Advocate; he knew Teyla would understand. "She does have a point. Even with the refugees, she has more people on the mainland than we do. They're used to this sort of thing."

Teyla caught on right away. "Are you suggesting that she has more _right_ to these decisions than I or my people?"

Shaking his head, Daniel calmed Teyla with his reassuring voice. "No, what I'm saying is you never would have done this because you're two very different cultures, and you don't have the same resources at your disposal as she does."

Now Teyla fully understood what Daniel was talking about, and after taking a few seconds to calm down, she softly muttered almost to herself. "There are only thirty-two Athosians left, Daniel… thirty-two. I will _not_ see them become Travelers with no soul." She sighed and bowed her head digging into Daniel's chest as he swung around to give her a full hug. "But I do not wish them to come to harm… Perhaps in time… when they know their place in life… they will choose their own path, unhindered by lack of resources or culture shock."

Daniel realized that she'd been picking up a lot more from him that he first anticipated. And once again he wondered where this woman had come from. "Come on… we don't need to see this… I'm sure Jinto's tired of looking after Torren. We can watch a movie with him tonight if you want."

Teyla shook her head, but she followed Daniel's lead back into the city from the balcony. "No… I just want to forget this happened… Do you still have your quarters here on Atlantis?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah."

Teyla sighed, and took one last look over the horizon where a nearly imperceptible splotch moved across the skies. "Let's go get Torren, and stay here for the night. I do not wish to be on the mainland tonight."

Daniel didn't blame her, and he kept one arm around her as they left the balcony and headed to the Jumper Bay.

Far off in the distance, the splotch in the night air began to rain down superheated bolts of plasma, an organized and efficient orbital bombardment from the Traveler ship _Navras_ on the forest where the team had been attacked.

* * *

"Ronon!"

The named man turned, and his face softened. "Duvali."

Dusty again winced at the name, and she shifted on her feet as she came to a stop and rubbed the back of her neck… "I told you… don't call me that."

Ronon growled softly and mused, to the side, Drake and Alicia were having a goodbye chat with Wex as he got a pack ready to take with him on the Jumper. "What do you want me to call you then?"

Shrugging, Dusty replied. "My name… Dusty."

Ronon smirked. "Duvali sounds better."

Groaning, Dusty looked anywhere but at Ronon. She'd told him the story and she actually did love it when he called her that, but now it just dredged up feelings that she wasn't sure she wanted. "Maybe… but I…" She bit her tongue, not saying what she almost did. What a part of her wanted to say.

Ronon noticed and snorted softly, almost mockingly. "Yeah."

Needing to say something, anything to pass the moment, Dusty smirked. "You could use a hair cut."

Ronon grunted and felt for his missing hair. "It was time."

Dusty now allowed the anger she felt to rise, Ronon was daring her and dammit, she wanted to reply. "Why'd you leave? _Dammit_ _Ronon…_ Why'd you…?"

Ronon softened a bit and reached out with his hand. He took Dusty's chin and gently forced her to look at him. They were in each other's personal space now. "You know why… and you know why I can't stay."

Dusty did know, and as much as she wanted to just take Ronon into her arms and hug it all away, she just wasn't ready for that. Her wants and desires didn't match his and it would just end up hurting the two of them. That's how it happened the last time, and she wasn't going to have it happen again. "…I miss you."

Ronon nodded once, looked down at her mouth for a moment, then back to her eyes. "I miss you too."

With that, he let go and walked over to the Jumper, very little time had passed before the Jumper rose up into the air and took off towards the mainland.

Dusty resisted crying. She was worried something like that was going to happen and it was infuriating that it had been so public. To her surprise, Alicia and Dan now walked up, Alicia sympathetic. "Hey… you okay Dust-buster?"

Alicia only ever used the little pet name when she knew Dusty was feeling bad. Dusty took a second to herself, then nodded. "Yeah… yeah, I'm… I'll be fine."

Unconvinced, but knowing that Dusty needed time alone, Alicia gave her a soft squeeze of her shoulder before nodding. "Okay… I'll be with Sheppard and Carter but if you need anything…"

Now Dusty gave her a sarcastic grin. "Oh don't worry. I got Dan. Long as he keeps his hands to himself, I'll be _just fine."_

Dan groaned softly as she hooked his thumbs in his pockets. "Aw come on. I thought we got over that."

Alicia laughed at the strange camaraderie they had, and sighed. "Yeah well, we'll see where we go from here… things are so fucked up." She shook her head as she began to walk away.

Dusty had just turned when she noticed Dan sidle up beside her. "So _prasnjav…"_ Dusty could tell she wasn't going to like this already. "You gonna tell me what's going on or am I going to have to listen to gossip?"

Dusty gave him a glare, but after a moment saw he wasn't just curious, he was concerned. She sighed, then motioned, "Come on… I need ice cream or at least something sweet."

* * *

"Well… I could give you advice, but that's not what I think you want."

Dusty took a bite of the frozen fruit/milk mash Rafaela had 'invented' out of curiosity one day and winced at biting on a seed. "Mmm…" she swallowed after spitting out the seed. "Thanks. That's _just_ what I wanted to hear."

Dan shrugged as he took another sip of the Pegasus refugee ale he'd traded some moonshine for. He'd built up an impressive collection of liquors and he wasn't ashamed of the habit. "Well, it's the truth. You both shoulda talked right from the start and figured out where you both stood. He loves you… and you…"

Dusty interrupted. "I…! _I don't know… I…" _She froze for a moment, then, taking another bite, took the chance to reflect. "I do _like_ him… and I can see myself _with _him… it's just… _god, _why did he have to ask me to _marry_ him?"

Dan continued snoozing on the hammock he'd installed and took another sip. "That's what he wants. Isn't he like 40 or something?"

Dusty groaned. "Oh don't give me the "older guy" bullshit! I hate that. Yeah, he's older, but I'm not a kid."

Turning to Dusty, Dan furrowed his brow. "Sometimes I wonder." Throwing a sob of the mushy paste at Dan, Dusty growled half amused as Dan wiped the treat off his face. "See?"

Sighing, Dusty just let herself sprawl out on the floor. God, she wanted to be close to someone right now. Just feel someone's warm body close to her and maybe… just maybe she'd feel better. "Is that what you do? Every time? Every girl?"

Dan shifted over in the hammock on his balcony and looked at Dusty on the floor. "What? Tell 'em straight out I don't want a relationship? Of course. They know going in I'm not the type to go all sentimental, and I tell them to stay away if _they_ are cuz I'm just going to hurt them."

Dusty turned her head on the floor and looked to Dan. "You're an asshole is what you are."

Dan got up, and stretched his arms. "If that's not a conditioned response, I don't know what is."

Angered again, Dusty threw the empty plastic bowl at Dan, who deftly dodged it and watched it fly out into the gusts of wind surrounding Atlantis. _"Fuck off!"_

It didn't even affect Dan, and he sat down on the floor across from Dusty who remained on the floor on her back. "Tsk tsk tsk… such anger. You really should consider putting that to a more productive use."

Dusty gave Dan a sarcastic grin. "What? Getting paid to mouth off and kill shit ain't productive?" She snorted, and rubbed her face. "When'd you get all learnt?"

Dan shrugged, and offered a hand to Dusty. "Just cuz I'm hard as fuck don't mean I ain't got a brain."

Pulling herself up, Dusty groaned and rubbed her face again with one palm. "Have you ever loved someone?"

Dan's answer was instant. "Not the way you're thinking. Love hurts, and I'm not a masochist." He snickered, "Well… not much of one."

Stunned by how surprisingly articulate he was being, Dusty looked up at him. "I gotta get you drunk more often. You're actually making sense."

Dan chuckled, and lifted Dusty up completely off the ground and to her feet. "I'm at the 'professor' stage. Articulate, deep, maybe even insightful." He took another sip of the ale. "Won't be long till I'm in 'horny' mode, so you might wanna split."

Dusty laughed, and for a split second she wondered. She quickly pushed it out of her head and gave Dan a little hug. "Thanks for listening… I kinda do feel better."

Dan nodded, and then furrowed his eyebrows. "You never did explain that "Duvali" thing. I know your real name is actually Dusty so…?"

Snorting, Dusty walked over to where the door was. "God, it's the stupidest thing ever…"

Dan laughed as he rubbed one of Dusty's shoulders. "Oh, now I _gotta_ hear this."

Dusty opened the door, and slipped out from under Dan's hands. "You're gonna die laughing." She sighed, and leaned on the jamb. "My parents immigrated to the states when my mom got pregnant with me. They had a little clothes making business, so they were okay, except they hardly spoke any English because they were old school."

Dan nodded. "Okay…"

Dusty started laughing; the story was ridiculous. "Anyways, when my mom had me, they still could hardly speak, read or write. The hospital had to get a translator. The translator tells my dad where to write everything for my birth certificate."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh…"

Another snort, and Dusty gave him a wide grin. "He writes 'Duvali' on the paper as my first name, but the secretary thinks it's "Dusty". She doesn't ask and so when my birth certificate came in, I was "Dusty" Mehra."

She snickered madly now, and Dan gave her an incredulous face. _"The fuck?!_ Are you _serious?"_

Dusty nodded. "I was named by the state of Massachusetts, and when my dad found out he blew a gasket. He went to City Hall and demanded they change my name. They tell him he has to pay a hundred and fifty dollars to do it, even though it's their fault."

Dan snorted. "I've heard Indian people are cheap, but that's whack!"

Dusty frowned sarcastically. "It was the principle of the thing! It was _their_ fault, so why should my dad pay his hard earned money?" she laughed. "Ever since I've been Dusty Mehra. And well… only a few people know I was _supposed_ to be named Duvali."

Now Dan understood. And he still shook his head as he laughed. "That's fuckin' classic."

* * *

Reyna raised her eyebrows in surprise to the proposal Carson gave her. Radek and Rafaela who sat nearby were equally surprised, but not in a negative way. "You're serious, aren't you, Carson?"

The Scottish Doctor nodded somberly. "There's an imminent crisis coming to this city… and really everyone who came from Pegasus. I'd rather be prepared than not."

Radek shifted and fixed his glasses on his nose. "As strange as it is, I think this is the best thing for Atlantis. She needs to be self-sufficient and this will help considerably."

Rafaela was still a little disconcerted with the way Radek had begun to talk about Atlantis like it were a person. "I agree, the city will really benefit from this… but there's a lot of planning to be done and I really don't know anything about that. "She looked to Reyna and Radek. "I don't think any of us do."

Carson smiled. "Oh you just leave that to me, lass. When I take this to Colonel Carter and Larrin, they'll have no choice but to say yes. I guarantee it."

* * *

**Episode 16 – Mercy-Less**

**Olim Warrior:** Trust is something that's earned. If I trusted you from the start, I would appear weak.

**Carson**** Beckett:** In that armor? I can't even be sure you're a real person.

**Olim Warrior:** Hmmm… _Nick Nack Paddy-Whack Give a dog a Bone…!_ What? You wanted proof I was alive. Your cultural files certainly have some strange songs in them. One even speaks of a baby falling out of a tree!

**Carson**** Beckett**. I'll never get used to this..


	35. MercyLess First Quarter

**Episode 16 – Mercy-Less (1/4)  
**

**A/N: **_As always, many thanks to **Neela** for the lovely beta. I think **IceMenace** beta'ed this as well but i can't recall specifically. This episode is split into 4 as it's a smidge larger (14k words)_

* * *

230 days in Hoag's Object

* * *

**Olim Warrior:** Trust is something that's earned. If I trusted you from the start, I would appear weak.

**Carson Beckett:** In that armor? I can't even be sure you're a real person.

**Olim Warrior:** Hmm… _Nick Nack Paddy-Whack Give a dog a Bone…!_ What? You wanted proof I was alive. Your cultural files certainly have some strange songs in them. One even speaks of a baby falling out of a tree.

**Carson**** Beckett**. I'll never get used to this.

* * *

Sam made an "O" with her mouth and leaned back on her chair. Granted, she was expecting stuff like this to happen eventually, but now that it was actually happening, she felt slightly overwhelmed. "You're serious?"

Carson nodded and remained defiant. "It's the best way to deal with this issue, and we have more than enough space for it. All we're missing is equipment."

Sam turned to Larrin, who shrugged and muttered. "Don't look at me! I know squat about this stuff."

Standing off to the side in his workout gear, John was still going over the proposal Carson and Radek had brought them. "And a hospital is a big thing. What's so bad about an infirmary? There're only about two thousand people here anyway; that's a pretty standard base."

Carson shrugged and then shook his head. "Aye, if we were all soldiers or military. Instead, we've got families, children, and a dozen types of viruses and bacterium I've never seen before. We've managed to keep it together so far, but we're running out of medicines and frankly, if we don't do something _now_, the next big outbreak could be our last."

The entire command staff looked to each other, and after a few moments of contemplation, Radek spoke up from his seat in front of Sam's desk. "I've gone over Carson's plans. We have enough equipment to start renovating tower B-12 into a hospital wing. We've also been able to catalogue many Ancient devices that have a medical property, so a medical lab is not impractical either. Atlantis already has several infirmary areas with scanners and beds, so a repurposing is not entirely unfeasible."

Sam sighed and screwed her face. "Carson… is there something you're not telling me? We've been fine with an infirmary for more than four years. We had almost seven thousand people in the city for four months last year."

Carson nodded. "Aye, and Jennifer burnt herself out handling it. It's not the big problems I'm worried about; it's the multitude of small problems. I'm a general practitioner with specialization in contagious diseases, but an infirmary is no place for pediatrics, long term physiotherapy, delicate lab work, or even gynecology."

Sam blushed a little at the last one. Did he _have_ to mention that? "Uh… well… "She cursed her natural reaction and coughed to try and mask it, which only made things worse. Larrin was completely unfazed since she had no clue what gynecology meant, even though the Travelers did have it. John was fighting his smirk and Sam promised she's smack it off before this was done. "… You make a good point. But what exactly do you need?"

Carson pointed to the tablet. "I've drawn up a list along with Reyna. I'm going to need a team of at least twenty people who can properly identify plant life and chemicals, another twenty at least to devote to medical laboratory work, a list of potential trade with the Olim…"

Interrupting, Larrin gave Carson a bemused face. "Are you serious? You're basically asking for your own general staff to do whatever you want them to do."

Sam understood on the other hand what Carson was asking. "Yeah… he is. And I'm in favor of it."

Carson smiled. Maybe today wasn't going to be such an argumentative day.

* * *

"Uhh… that's actually not that bad an idea." Chuck smiled to himself. "I'll have to coordinate with Boom-Boom, but I think we should be able to get the news to everyone, refugees included."

Sam furrowed her brow. "Boom Boom?"

Chuck snickered. "Laura. You know… explosives expert, so… "

Sam nodded and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I get it. So you and her...?" It was a touchy subject for Sam still. But she'd never actually given the order that the rules didn't matter anymore. It was more an assumed thing than anything else.

Chuck seemed uncharacteristically bashful as he replied. "Oh well, you know... we jam together when we're not busy. It just… kinda happened really." Chuck's smile changed to a contemplative one. "Do… Is there a problem with it?"

Sam shook her head vehemently. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else in the control room at this hour of the night and she'd decided to become much more open with her subordinates. Chuck was probably the easiest to get along with. "No, no, no… well… no, not exactly, it's just…" Sam struggled to find the words, and after taking a second to review her mental dictionary, "…I guess I'm just old school. The Air Force is pretty much all I've known."

Chuck furrowed his brow for a moment, but then understood what she was talking about. "Well… that's… "

Sam nodded and sighed. "Yeah… yeah, it's my problem." She silently wished her leg was flexible enough to kick herself as it normally was, but then realized that early tomorrow she'd be working out again. "Don't worry about me. Just…"

Chuck nodded, perfectly understanding. "No problem, I'll have the first design for the "Razor" ready later this week."

Sam smiled, and knew that Chuck was quite probably one of the core foundations of what was holding everyone together. "Thanks Chuck. I appreciate it. Have a good night."

Chuck gave Sam a friendly wave as she got up and left. He opened up his window of AutoCAD again and resumed work on the project Sam had given him. Before he really started working though, he clicked play on his media player and sent a message to "Boom Boom" via the email service he'd set up for everyone to know where to go in the morning.

* * *

"Do you think he could help?"

Aulus nodded and looked away from the armored man before him. "Yes, I look at them and… and I see what we lost." Sighing, Aulus clenched his fist and used his other hand to rub the arm bracer hidden under his tunic. "Do not underestimate them. A fire burns in them that will sear us if we're not careful."

The armored man nodded and underneath the liquid trinium, he smiled. "I look forward to meeting them."

* * *

"Chuck, I swear if that's you I'm going to break your hand and use your scream as an alarm clock."

Seeing as Laura was pretty much sitting in his lap, Chuck didn't feel threatened at all as Laura did her makeup for the day, The Traveler versions weren't as refined as Earth cosmetics, but it still got the job done. Chuck never imagined he'd have all this junk in his quarters though. "That'd be a pretty effective alarm clock, I should make one and market it."

Laura snorted and stretched her back against Chuck.. "I think your girlish scream would scare the Travelers." She snickered, then leaned back to nuzzle Chuck's face. "You up for some cardio? Carson still won't let me run and I hate biking in place."

Kissing her softly along the edge of her neck, Chuck nodded. "Just gimme an hour to get next week's duty assignments out, meet you in the gym?"

Laura pulled away and gave Chuck a surprised look. "What? No joke? No quip about 'Oh wasn't last night's cardio session enough?'"

Shrugging, Chuck reached over and grabbed the clean shirt he'd set out for today. "Why say it when you already think it?"

Laura was now doubly thankful that Atlantis's walls were relatively sound proof.

* * *

"You're pretty excited about this, aren't you?"

Looking up from his tablet, Carson gave Reyna a disinterested smile. "You could say that."

Furrowing her brow, Reyna sat down across from him with several charts. "Or not."

Sensing the rebuke, Carson chuckled softly and picked up his mug of tea. "Rey…"

"Carson." Reyna gave him her flirty smile and Carson knew he was finished.

"It's just… " Carson took a sip of tea just to give himself a few seconds to think. "I wish I could see what the Olim have. That thermogenic steroid was a brilliant piece of hormonal engineering. I can't imagine what they have in the areas of genetics and viral research."

Raising an eyebrow, Reyna caught what Carson had just said. "Viral? Carson… we're doing okay. We've been able to hold back most of these viruses quite easily once we've isolated it. What's the real reason you're so hurried?"

How she was able to read him so well, Carson wondered. "Oh nothing…." Seeing her give him _that_ look, Carson finally broke. "Oh alright, I'm sure you've noticed, but in the next seven months there's going to be…"

Before he could finish, the communication panel began to beep and he smiled at her knowingly. Reyna for that matter had gotten the issue and simply remained quiet.

_"Dr Beckett, please come in."_

Carson tapped his headset. "Yes, Chuck? Is that you?"

_"Yes, Doc, you're needed in the gate room. You might want to bring your tablet as well."_

Now confused, Carson scratched his chin as he got up. "Alright, what's going on?"

_"I think you're going to want to see for yourself…"_

The communication shut off, and Carson sighed. "I thought he'd know by now I hate surprises. They never lead anywhere good."

Reyna looked up at Carson, then smiled. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"

Shocked, Carson turned to Reyna with a blank stare. "Excuse me?"

Reyna got up nonchalantly and took her charts, unread. "Just checking."

With a slightly exaggerated step, Reyna left a dumbstruck Carson in his office.

* * *

"Alright Charles, what's so impor…" Carson saw Aulus standing in the gate room, three Travelers on either side of him acting as his 'escort' "Proconsul Centaurus… I'm surprised to see you."

Aulus nodded gracefully, and motioned to Sam, John and Larrin who stood at the bottom of the gate steps in a greeting pose. "Greetings, Doctor. Colonels Carter, Sheppard, and Larrin tell me you're something of the Doctor in charge here."

Feeling the need to assert himself, Carson cocked his head. "Not something. I _am_ the Doctor in charge. And I'm very busy, so if you'd be so kind as to get to _something_ of a point." He was frustrated, he'd _been_ frustrated for months on end and Aulus just happened to be a worthy target.

For his sake, Aulus took it in stride. "Now, now, Doctor. I did not come to argue. In fact, I have a proposal, which may benefit us both in the short and long term, if you'll follow us to the conference room? I find conversation while standing to be quite tedious."

Trying vainly to find something Aulus had said to warrant continued hostility, more out of frustration than anything else, and in fact finding it quite eloquent and diplomatic Carson nodded and obliged.

* * *

"It's as fair a deal as I can offer you. This is my own governorship offering this, none of the other Olim Houses are involved and you'll be dealing with me alone."

Sam wanted to wait for Daniel, but Aulus had appeared so out of the blue that morning that she'd even had to don an old Atlantis jumpsuit to hide her workout gear below. "It's tempting, but I think Carson should have the final word here." Knowing that Carson was seeking autonomy to make his own choices regarding the medical status of Atlantis, Sam differed to him with a nod of her head.

Appreciative of that fact, Carson looked at Aulus and smiled. "I'll admit, I'm curious as to what kind of illness could threaten your people."

Aulus nodded and bowed his head. "Truthfully, I am not the one to ask. Decius, my chief of medicine would give you much clearer answers, but I can tell you that what we know comes directly from our experiences. I have no doubt that if a Shade were to strike me down, our doctors would have the expertise to assist me. But something as insidious as a virus continues to elude even our greatest doctors."

Carson furrowed his brow and grimaced. "Granted yes, contagious diseases are a specialty, but I'm quite baffled that your doctors don't have the ability to deal with it."

Aulus looked to Sam and Larrin in particular for a moment. "No offense is intended, but our physiology allows us to defend against bacterium and the majority of viral agents. Simply put, we have not had _need_ to explore such avenues of medicine."

Sam still couldn't get it out of her head how articulate Aulus was. She pushed the matter aside and decided to lay down the law. "Well, if Doctor Beckett agrees, he can go to your world at any time. I do think we can take the opportunity to discuss some form of more advanced trade, though. Seeing as we're going to be scratching each other's backs already with our medical knowledge."

Aulus nodded. "I have no doubt that Doctor Beckett will be more than willing to be your 'prospector' in these talks."

Sam smiled. In many respects the Olim were jerks, but if there were a few more like Aulus, then maybe they'd be okay.

* * *

"I'm serious, Sheppard. I wanted a trained medical personnel doing this, but because I know you're both stubborn jackasses…"

John grimaced sarcastically. "I'm not sure Sam would like being called a jackass."

Carson sighed exasperatedly, "You know what I mean! I'll be gone for a day, two at the most. I don't want to come back and see her in a wheelchair because you let her push too hard."

Nodding, and now shoving him along as he stuffed a Traveler subspace transponder into his vest, John replied. "I won't. Now come on! Aulus is waiting and I'm sure that Olim Chicken Pox is going to take up most of your time. "

Grabbing the last bit of his contamination gear, Carson got his mask ready and gave John a sarcastic grin. "Thank you, Colonel, I feel _so_ loved here."

Being his typical boyish self, John shrugged as he replied. "Well, working with Rey all day, I'm not surprised."

Instinctually, Carson reacted like a Traveler after having spent so much time with them. "Aye, there is that."

John chuckled, and gave Carson a final shove towards the exit. "Alright, have fun out there. Don't worry, we're watching yer back."

* * *

It hurt, but the pain was good, it kept him alert, it kept him from making a mistake and instead focused. It wasn't any pain that he couldn't handle, more like a little buzz than anything else. He couldn't sleep like this though, and his suit wouldn't last forever.

The Astria Porta flashed open on cue; his suit recorded the energy from the opening wormhole. He'd once heard that in the middle age, they'd tried to harness the energy into a usable capacitor. It had less than favorable results.

The Doctor they sent was… interesting. He was more advanced than those he'd heard of. Given the stories, he could almost have expected a primate walking on all fours to come through.

Instead, the man who came through looked quite dignified, even in his deliciously amusing lime green containment suit. If it weren't for that spectacle as well as the knowledge of where he'd come from, he could almost guess that this was one of the house of Augustine. They were almost the same when it came to the feeling of him walking past.

There was something different, though. He didn't feel the knowledge, not that it would have been much from an Augustine, but it was a stark reminder that this _wasn't_ one of his people.

His people were around a small colony, a training outpost more than anything else really. He'd often partaken in their training to give of what he knew. The young ones were learning and often, he found their training too single minded and zealous, a side effect of the Aquinus and the Telarus houses' insistence on aggression.

These metal buildings… so unlike to the standard ship buildings his people were used to, they felt wrong. Almost like they were recklessly inviting the Shade to appear. They could do that whenever they wished; the Shade were not difficult to call upon.

No, rather it was _he_ who was different. Perhaps it had something to do with his upbringing, but the man preferred more than just combat and the wisdom of the progenitors.

So instead, he focused on the now. The plague was certainly something they hadn't expected, and he prayed to the precursors that his inferior cousins had developed some form of intelligence about this.

* * *

Biking sucked. "Come on, Chuck, you're a mile behind me."

Biking _really_ sucked. _"That's… 1.6 kilometers… thank you very much!"_

Laura laughed at Chuck's oh so Canadianess. All that time seated on the computer had let his heart and muscles atrophy despite doing weights. Sure he kept up last night quite well, but Laura had been biking all week and only now convinced Chuck to tag along. "Come on, Mountie! Win me the Tour De France!"

Chuck snickered as he panted from the exertion. Dammit he _could_ catch up to Laura on the stationary bikes, but why? He was just going to go jimmy legs afterwards.

So he looked around, several Travelers had brought their own equipment on board. Ironically, most of it was quite similar to Chuck Norris's bow flex with no real free weights. No wonder they kept toned and trim, but not muscular. Chuck preferred freeweights himself, but circuit training. _"You're gonna kill me, you know that?"_

Laura smiled and took a sip of water from her bottle. Directly across from them, Sam grunted as she lifted an extra ten pounds on the leg press machine with Sheppard spotting. "You won't complain when we go Boom Boom."

Chuck laughed hard once, then continued pedaling. "You know Carter came to see me about that?"

Turning as she pedaled, Laura muttered between breaths. "Really? Good or bad?"

Shrugging, Chuck took a sip of his own water before replying. "Indifferent… think she's got her own… problems…"

Looking ahead, Laura saw John and Sam having yet another argument. It was rare, but that made it all the more entertaining.

Laura kicked herself, it wasn't entertaining to watch those two fight, just rare. "I bet…"

Across the room, John looked at Sam and coldly stated. "No."

Sam looked up at him from her position on the leg press. "I can take it. I'm not going to get better just going through the motions."

John cocked his head and deadpanned. "I though that's what physiotherapy was."

Sam growled and forced herself up to change the weights herself. "It's just twenty more pounds, John. And the muscle and tendons are fine, the muscle just needs to be used."

Sarcastically, John replied. "Atrophy. That's what Carson called it. He told me to make sure you take it easy."

Sam brushed past him roughly. "And I am. You're not the one lifting it, so how can you tell?"

John simply remained quiet, and stepped back.

Sam added the pair of ten-pound weights, the plates slipping slightly from her sweaty fingers. She retook her position at the leg press rejecting John's hand down and lifted the weight off the safety plates.

John was never so glad that there were safety bars in place. The weight wasn't an extreme amount, but it was a lot for most women he knew. It was terrifying when he saw Sam bench press a hundred pounds for eight clean(ish) reps. Most women he knew apart from Teyla could barely do fifty if they tried at those rep levels.

But Sam hadn't used this leg properly in almost two months. Two months and a severe injury, and he knew she was pushing too hard. He subtly moved over to the bar holding the weights together and nodded to Sam. "Eight reps."

"Ten," Sam said confidently. "Twelve if I can."

John wasn't so sure. Sam had never appeared to him to be a muscle freak, so this kind of hard training didn't seem normal. He remembered all the times he'd come here with Leese, or Dusty or even Larrin and Rafaela. They never pushed this hard, though he knew Dusty and Alicia were stronger than they looked. They stuck mostly to martial arts though, not strength training.

John himself focused on cardio and agility. Martial arts were the best thing and he missed sparring with Ronon or Teyla. Alicia and Dusty just weren't a good challenge, and he often sparred with them both at the same time. They were learning, but needed more.

Maybe he'd offer Sam lessons again. She'd turned him down several times citing not enough time, but now… "Alright, ten reps. Don't push so hard."

Sam ignored him, and let the weights fall in a controlled drop. Her legs flexed as the gravity of the weights threatened to crush her. "One… two…three…"

* * *

"So you've been able to isolate the virus, but haven't been able to find a proper counteragent?"

Decius sighed and shook his head. "I've tried several chemical combinations, but it all damages the host cells before eradicating the virus."

Carson resisted his groan. The most annoying part of this was the book of chemical agents Decius had brought listing their supplies. The damn thing was in Pig Latin for all Carson knew! "Firstly, did you at least begin inoculations and vaccinations using virus cultures?"

Decius furrowed his brow, but then realized what Carson meant. "Oh! Yes, we've been able to protect our elderly, but our adult population is still susceptible,"

Curious, Carson asked. "What about your children? Younger immune systems are more susceptible as well."

Decius shrugged the question off. "We do not keep our children here. They are sent back to the Homeworld for… education."

Not satisfied, but at least appeased, Carson continued. "Is this specific virus fatal?

"Some of the time, and we simply can't grow enough of the virus to make the injections to shield our people from the effects. It changes every season and we find that we've had to simply wait it out."

Same problem as back on Earth. So that left one option. "So it is fatal."

Decius nodded. "Depending on the strength of the subject, we've found our less genetically advanced are more susceptible."

Carson resisted his snark. He was here to help these people, not demean their culture. "Be that as it may, do you have an electron microscope handy?"

Again Decius shrugged. "Electron Microscope?"

Carson sighed. This was getting to be the most annoying advanced culture he'd ever met. Balling up the small pad of paper he'd been writing on, he tossed it towards what looked like a garbage can.

He was so engrossed in this flu type virus that he didn't even notice it bounce off seemingly nothing and clatter to the ground.


	36. MercyLess Second Quarter

"Let go."

John could feel maybe five or ten pounds of weight on his arm. "You're done."

Sam shook her head. "One more set. Let go." Her voice was strong, her glare even harsher.

John wanted to yell at her. Just scream that she was being stupid and emotional and she was going to hurt herself. Daniel had warned him about this, but he hadn't expected it to be so obvious. "You're tired… take a break. I'll hop on."

Sam pushed a little harder and took on the weight John was holding. "Eight reps. That's it."

It was fair, it was diplomatic, and John wished he'd listened to Elizabeth more often so he could effectively argue. But he hadn't, so all that was left was hoping Sam didn't hurt herself. "Fine."

He let go, and Sam caught the weight with her legs. She'd rested the obligatory two minutes and she began her set. "One…"

Right from the start, John could see her muscles were exhausted. Overtraining was dangerous. At least she wasn't actually doing free weights or her spine would be at risk. Right now the most likely injury she might suffer was a pulled muscle or tendon. At worst, a severe pull or tear. He could see the veins on Sam's neck pulsate, her face burning red with exertion.

By the time she hit five, John knew she was in trouble. Her legs were quivering, and her jaw trembling. She refused to give in though, and John finally recognized the look in her eyes, the aura she emitted.

He was momentarily taken back to Doranda, and the zero point energy facility that nearly killed Rodney and his entire team. The story… the pilot who wouldn't bail out. Sam was a pilot as well and he could see that she wasn't going to bail out in time.

Seven was the hardest yet, and now Sam was almost screaming as she pushed for the last rep. "Sam, stop! You're exhausted!"

Too strained to reply, Sam simply shook her head and shifted her body. It was a natural reaction to get other muscles to help with the weight lifting as well, and John was too late to do anything about it.

The weight slowly crept up, and Sam's hands gripped the handle bars of the machine, pulling her body hard enough to lift the weight she had.

Finally, after an excruciating few moments, the weights lifted and Sam's legs straightened. She quickly flipped the locks on and let go, her lungs emitting a short sharp cry that she quickly stifled.

John could see that she was biting back the pain; something had gone wrong on that last rep and she was hurt now. John resisted screaming and cursed himself. He'd let his emotions get in the way of his logic and now, John had let them all down. "Come on, you're done for today."

Finally Sam nodded, but she waved off his hand to help get up. "I'm… _I'm fine!_" she said breathlessly. "Just need a minute." Taking controlled deep breaths, Sam muttered. "I'm fine… just a minute…""

John gave her five, the whole time sitting and watching her. He could tell people were watching; he'd gotten used to it whenever he and Ronon sparred or did weights. But this was different, people were watching because he was with _her._ And John found he kinda didn't like that right now.

After a grueling six minutes of silence, Sam finally swung her legs out, biting her lower lip. It hurt, it hurt _a lot_, but she kept telling herself it was just the muscles complaining that she'd worked them out so hard. It was good, the pain meant micro tearing had occurred and the muscles would repair and grow stronger. Now she needed rest.

John had other plans. "Come on. Let's go see Rey." At least he used a soft voice, so no one else would hear.

But Sam heard it, and she scowled subtly at him. "Why? I thought your physical was last week."

Unappreciative of her sarcasm, John bit his tongue and kept his reply even handed. "Fine. But I'm walking you to your quarters."

Realizing that he was serious, Sam got even angrier. "I _know _the way, John. I don't need you to babysit me."

Giving her a contemptuous look, John simply smiled resentfully. "Humor me."

He had her there, and with a painful limp that she tried vainly to hide, Sam wiped the sweat off her neck, thanked god for chemises, and began the long walk to her quarters with John following behind her slow pace.

Off behind them, Chuck was sprawled out on the floor on a mat, merrily dozing off as Laura stared at him. "Good thing today's my day off. I'd hate to run into either of those two later today."

Laura on the other hand was worried. She may not have heard a damn thing they said, but her women's intuition screamed major issue. "Shut up, Chuck." Her softish kick to Chuck's ribs silenced him.

* * *

The anti-viral agent was working, and even more, the Olim had plenty of storage for that chemical. Decius was amazed. "Divine Precursor… I've never seen an agent work so fast to immobilize a virus like this."

Carson shrugged as he put away the little scanner, as well as his small chemical spinner to isolate specific strands. "I guess your advanced physiology has some drawbacks as well; this would be considered a minor annoyance back on my world." He smiled softly to himself, proud for striking a blow for humanity.

Decius was unfazed though, something which surprised Carson. "Yes well, unfortunately evolution took a rather backwards turn in our case. We've never had to learn from mistakes because they were never there to begin with." It was a confusing sentence, but before Carson could really judge what was meant by it, Decius continued. "Doctor… I must ask, have you had any experience with non-Alterran physiology?"

It took a few seconds to realize what Decius meant. "You mean non-humanoid? As in something that doesn't walk on two legs, has two arms and a head?"

Decius nodded. "An accurate, if very general, term."

Carson followed Decius as he led him outside. "Well then, yes and I think I know where you're going with this. I _have_ had a chance to examine the Shade, their genetic structure is _very_ peculiar indeed. Though I've only seen them after they've been shot to hell and back."

As he neared the door, it suddenly obscured as a man came into existence in the doorway. Or at least what looked like a man. It was actually a 6-foot tall metallic demon. "Good. Then you will be most pleased to examine a live specimen."

Carson had almost been expecting something like this. After dealing with a few Olim after Magna Secundus, he knew that they never told the full truth. He almost sarcastically replied. "Oh really? And you just happen to have one, Tin Man?"

Not getting the Oz joke, the man in the suit simply bowed his head to look down at Carson. "You're not scared?"

Carson shook his head. "You've no idea what I've seen, what I've been through, what I've done. I don't think your people are monstrous enough to push me to my limits." It was true, Carson had been expecting something like this. The Olim seemed to always be hiding their true motives, something Carson was used to with Michael. But these people weren't the same, they weren't inhuman monsters.

The man in the armor's body language said surprise. "Perceptive, a common trait amoung Doctors; you will not be harmed. Truthfully I wear my suit to protect myself from exposure to the virus on this planet. Though yes, the intimidation factor is quite enjoyable."

Carson looked around, wondering if there were anymore of these stealthy Olim around. He felt surprisingly calm, maybe because he actually felt somewhat at home here, helping people who actually needed it for a change. "Well, it's not needed. If you have a live specimen of a Shade Creature, I'd love to examine it and share my findings…" Seeing the man turn, Carson made his case. "…_If… _"

The man cocked his head in what appeared to be disbelief, his face obscured by the armor. "A bargain? You are more intelligent than they assume."

Carson noticed the "they" instead of "I", but kept quiet. "I want to open negotiations for medical resources. I'd like a copy of your medical database so we can translate it and begin a proper trade agreement. No middlemen, I want this direct." Carson wasn't in the mood for games, if they were going to kidnap him, he wasn't going to work, but if they decided to be intelligent, then he'd convince the people back on Atlantis that this was right.

Seemingly assessing him, the man in the Alcaeus armor finally replied after a few seconds. "Done. Proconsul Centaurus has given me discretion over this matter and what I say will happen."

He turned, and Decius spoke as they began to follow. "You are surprisingly calm despite the ruse. I wonder if you did not expect it."

For a moment, Carson remembered every dirty little trick Michael had ever used on him to get him to work. The Olim would never know what a monster Carson had been forced to be, but maybe helping them with such a destructive force as the Shade would even things out. "Remind me to tell you in specific medical terminology who and what a 'Wraith' is."

* * *

Sam was sure the inside of her lip was bleeding. She wished she could take a bite of her collar to keep from screaming, but that would have been a dead giveaway. She wasn't about to give John the satisfaction of being right, and she'd slap it back in his face when she reached her quarters.

Now in the same hallway, she was almost there. Just a little more pain, just a few more unhelped steps.

God, how could he watch her like this? How could John just slowly walk behind her, watching as she held it all together, the pain in her legs crying out with every step and not do anything?

Of course, Sam knew he already did, and every time she looked like she was about to fall or need to support herself on the wall, he was close, but not there.

It was almost too fast that she reached her quarters, and the anger at her coddling turned into voice. "See? I'm fine. Happy now?"

John took a second to look at her, and with his eyes he said all the hateful things he wanted to say. "Yes. Actually I am." With that, he turned and walked away, never once looking back.

Sam breathed heavily, watching as John entered the transporter and winked away from this area. Sam pushed it aside and finally opened the door to her quarters. Once the doors closed behind her, she leaned one hand on the desk and let out a small cry of pain. It was bad; her right leg was on fire and there wasn't an extinguisher around to put it out. She felt around and instantly buckled, her one hand on the desk the only thing keeping her up.

Her arms in perfect condition, Sam pushed off hard enough to fling herself to the bed, and grabbing a pillow. She finally muffled the scream she'd been wanting to release for the fifteen minutes it had taken to get here.

* * *

"What about Decius?"

The armored Olim shook his head. "He will be implementing your anti-viral medication. He is not needed for this." They reached the door to the lab in question and the man leaned forward towards a coded lock. He covered it up as he input a number.

Carson could see he was still being scrutinized. "Don't you trust me?"

The man finished inputting the code under the cover of his other arm, and then looked to Carson. "Trust is something that's earned. If I trusted you from the start, I would appear weak."

Carson snorted. "In that armor? I can't even be sure you're a real person."

"Hmm…" To Carson's surprise, the man grandiosely waved Carson into the semi-underground bunker that had been hidden a few hundred feet from the gate. His voice, despite being through a speaker, was singsongy. "_Nick Nack Paddy-Whack Give a dog a Bone….!"_ Seeing Carson's confused face, the man shrugged through his armor. "What? You wanted proof I was alive. Your cultural files certainly have some strange songs in them. One even speaks of a baby falling out of a tree."

Pushing aside the ridiculous song, Carson moved into the bunker. "I'll never get used to this."

* * *

It had been a few hours now, more than just a few, hell it was almost tomorrow and Alicia was so bored she'd made a little streamer fan out of a piece of paper nearby. She blew on it and enjoyed the resulting sound it made. It was better than the _gino beats_ stuff Chuck had on his console. Where was the Reggaeton when you needed it?

What was the point? Someone always had to be here? Okay, maybe it was smart, and yeah, she should do her part. But dammit she was a soldier! Not a gate sitter. The Traveler technicians who worked around her ignored her for the most part. She almost resented them now. Someone had started spreading rumors about what… _team_ she played for, and it was annoying.

Granted, she'd been curious at times, but she'd never… "Alicia?"

Turning around in her seat, Alicia recognized the voice. "Rey? What's up?"

Reyna approached in one of the Atlantis lab coats; she looked shockingly intelligent. "Carson's late."

Alicia smiled, and considered making a joke. "So he's pregnant?" Okay, more than considered.

Reyna rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at Alicia. "Don't laugh too hard, it's happened before."

Freaked out, Alicia stiffened in her chair._ "What!?"_

Ignoring her, Reyna continued with all seriousness. "Carson was due for a check in, he had an appointment with Nevas today and he didn't make it back in time."

Alicia didn't care; this was extraordinary news. "You've seen _guys _get pregnant!?"

Reyna growled irritatedly._ "Dammit Alicia! _I think he's in trouble!"

Still confused, Alicia turned towards the console and considered researching the subject now. _"I'll say._ My mom said being pregnant was the best and worst thing ever. Can't imagine what it'd be like for a dude."

Now totally exasperated, Reyna gave Alicia a gentle shove. _"Would you grow up for a second!?_ Would Carson _ever_ miss an appointment he'd made without telling us first?"

Finally on the same note, Alicia scratched her head. "Well… I'm not really the person to ask, but no, it doesn't sound like him."

Reyna nodded. "Exactly, so that's why I think he's in trouble."

Sighing, Alicia realized that she'd have to work out a plan with Larrin seeing as they were in charge today. "Alright, but you're going to tell me all about this male pregnancy thing."

Reyna let out a final annoyed grunt and stomped off in search of someone who wasn't interested in male pregnancy.

* * *

"My god." Carson was dumbfounded; the Shade creature standing… or rather tied down in front of him, was hissing, breathing in and obviously still struggling. "How did you…?"

The man in the Alcaeus armor shrugged. "It's a _very_ long story, suffice it to say it is a youngling of a class 2 shade creature."

Carson carefully inched closer, very wary of the highly dangerous creature tied down to the table. The whole room was shaped like an ampitheater with a low level lighting. Carson had heard that the Olim used ships as their buildings, but this one clearly had built in ventilation as well as more space than Carson would expect from a ship. "Don't you have some kind of isolation room? Somewhere to keep it contained in case it breaks free?"

The man in the armor shook his head. "Apart from my presence, the table is outfitted with a kill switch. Any lock that is not disengaged by the operator will result in those…" he pointed up to where Carson could see a pair of coils surrounding a barrel each. "… to fire."

Carson didn't know what to say, it was certainly an effective manner with which to prevent an incident, yet at the same time, it was brutal. "Ugh, like the Spanish inquisition."

Carefully, Carson approached a likely looking console. The walk in had been rather simple, a pair of hallways with a few technical looking people working on consoles. This whole colony seemed to be strange, No children, not many elderly people. Only now was Carson realizing that it was likely a military lab. "So what have you managed to find out so far?"

The man in the armor moved over and tapped on a button. Decius's face appeared on the screen before Carson. The man in the armor said. "Decius has been working for quite some time, he has archived all his findings. The interface is intuitive to your thoughts, simply hold you hand to it and it will do what you think."

Carson was intrigued by this technology, and he put his hand nod and thought _'play'. _

The face of Decius on screen began to orate a note to Carson on the situation. "We've been able to isolate its genetic structure, but I have no idea how to treat a creature comprised of these elements."

Carson seemed a little skeptical as he thought 'pause.' ""Treat"? For some reason, I doubt taking this thing alive was an act of mercy."

The man in the Alcaeus armor stepped closer. "The Shade deserve no mercy for they give none. You have not seen their capacity for destruction; they will consume anything in their path, including us."

Carson wasn't so sure of that. "Destroy, perhaps, consume, not likely. We've determined that the Shade do not use carbon in their digestive system. A human would be as tasty as a rock would be to you or me."

The man laughed once, then turned as he replied. "When it happens, I'll be there to hold the bucket for your retching."

* * *

John had long ago learned that any anger he vented on the weights or against Ronon, Teyla, Leese, or even Dusty was nothing compared to a single unrepressed punch to his metal cabinet. The dent mark had grown and grown, and John knew that if he kept it up it would eventually punch through.

He wasn't an idiot about it though; punching a metal cabinet was a stupid thing to even consider, his knuckles were flesh and bone, the cabinet 2 millimeter steel. He had a permanent scar on his hand when he'd let loose a full force blow on the wall in the control room after Woolsey's brief on the IOA's genocidal orders.

Still, the punching glove he'd donned only lessened the impact; he still felt the pressure wave in his arm as he delivered his now third strike.

Rodney had suggested a punching bag, or at least a giant rack of beef so he could tenderize it for cooking and eventual feasting.

That would be cheating though. A punching bag or a hanging cow were soft targets, so his impact would be lessened. Already he was cheating by putting a glove on; a punching bag wouldn't help him at all.

The glove was so people wouldn't realize that he did this, that sometimes nothing felt better to John than letting his rage out against an inanimate metal cabinet.

Once he was done, the cabinet looked worse than ever. Not like he ever used it, but still…

Laying back in his bed, he forced himself to remember every last play he could remember from football, The pieces that he still couldn't figure out on that 302 he'd snagged from Marks. The name of the girl who'd been dying for him to ask her to the Prom back in grade 10… or was it 11? What was her name? Amy…? Amelia…? Annie? Anything to get his mind off the situation that had been boiling in his head for hours now.

Just as he decided to pull his X-Box out and let his anger out on the Covenant, someone knocked at the door. Which was odd seeing as there was a chime.

John silently walked to the door, and opening it, was a little surprised to see Sam standing, or rather leaning on the jamb and facing him.

Neither said anything, both simply staring at the other wondering who was going to say something first.

John looked at Sam's eyes, and saw resentment, but it wasn't the same resentment he'd seen before. Before it was angry, now it was… jealousy.

Sam looked up at John, who was a little taller than she, even more since she was leaning to support her right leg. His eyes said sorrow, his muscles in his face softening.

The silent conversation continued, and John could see that Sam softened as well. He bowed his head, understanding why she'd come, and then simply motioned with his head as he gave her clear passage.

Sam said nothing, simply limping in, and finally sitting on the bed letting her leg relax.

John closed the door, and stared at it for a moment before turning to Sam. Still, he said nothing.

Sitting down next to her, Sam controlled her breathing, wondering just where she'd gotten the courage to come down here. She knew she'd been wrong, but even more, _he'd_ been wrong as well and he'd just hurt her. Maybe that's why she came down here, because she wanted him to see just how badly his indifference had wounded her.

John sat next to Sam and stared at anything but her. Wondering why this had happened. It was ridiculous, and all he'd done was encourage it in the end. He felt ashamed, and he knew she did as well.

Neither was going to say sorry though, not until they'd worked through it internally to the point where it didn't matter anymore.

Finally turning to each other, Sam's eyes screamed for contact. John silently nodded and put an arm around her, pulling her close.

Sam finally spoke softly. _"I don't want to dance around like this anymore."_

John suddenly realized how serious this was getting, and he sighed. _"Neither do I."_

* * *

___**Reply to Goldstar:** Hey hey! thanks for the review! Welcome to the party :P As far as medical knowledge, i spend alot of time researching each aspect of the story i'm doing. So if say Sam and Radek were going to be talking about power generation, i'd read up on electricity and the like. _

___There's precious little information about Silicon Based life, but thankfully i was able to find a decent amount of info so most of what i mention about the Shade is "scientifically plausible" The next episode goes even deeper into this. _

___As far as what Carson's doing, there's plenty of information on anti-viral medicines and treatements. As far as the "Thermogenic Steroid" the Olim had that saved Sam, that's half contrivance as a Steroid will help in recoving muscle cells, but a thermogenic just means it heats it up. There's no such thing but that's where suspension of disbelief comes into play. It's also not THAT far a stretch that a hormone could cause heat :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter :D  
_


	37. MercyLess Third Quarter

Carson was fascinated; it was so different to be examining a live Shade than a dead one. The cells weren't oxidized and rusted, and the internal organs weren't ripped to shreds by a hundred bullets.

Something had just happened though that put Carson on alert. He'd gotten closer to the Shade with his small scanner, the wand part held almost like a butter knife in his hands.

The Shade saw him, through what Carson now knew was its face and squirmed, it squealed softly and tried to pull away.

Fear. The Shade had just shown fear of Carson. And instantly Carson remembered everything that Michael had spent such a long time breaking down. Instantly the guilt and realization, the shame, every last emotion he'd spent such a long time buried resurfaced. If it were any more a moment of epiphany he would have dropped to the floor and been reduced to tears. _"I will do no harm…"_

The man in the Alcaeus armor turned as he heard Carson. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

Carson looked down at the shade again and suddenly felt his chest hurting slightly. "It's sentient… it's alive."

The man nodded. "Yes, they are a life form, but so are the viruses that kill us from the inside." he scoffed, his tone almost amused. "Personally, I want to live forever, so I'm quite content exterminating both."

Carson shook his head, and inside his mind he couldn't get the image of the snake around the staff out of his mind. "I… I won't harm it. I don't care that it's a Shade, I swore an oath that I would never knowingly harm another creature… and I intend to keep that oath."

To his surprise, instead of getting angry, the man in the armor made a pensive noise. "An oath? Your people honor your promises?"

Confused with the question, Carson nodded. "The best of us do."

A few moments of silence, and the man in the armor turned his 'face' away from Carson, the face that Carson had no idea what it looked like. "Do you have any idea how many of my people have fallen before the Shade?" Sighing audibly, the man turned back to Carson. "For five hundred years, we've been at war with the Shade. Even now we barely scratch them, a mere insect bite in the beast that they are." He defiantly glowered through his armor. "I admire your oath, but you must understand our position. We have suffered for so long, that few of our people see anything but blind rage. If you do not give me something useful on this Shade creature, the second phase of our… 'request' will come into place. And my replacement won't be nearly as amicable as I am."

Carson suddenly realized that he was trapped, and his breathing increased as memories of Michael came back. "No… no, I won't do it. I… I can't!"

The man flexed his fists under the armor; it was impressive how it wrapped around his fingers with amazing detail. "I'm not asking you to harm this creature. Do I look like I have a problem breaking it in two? What I want is something, _anything _that will appease the more militant of our people. Give me that and I promise that when your people come for you, I won't stop them."

Carson didn't really know what to say, this man was shockingly reasonable, and Carson already knew enough to give him that _something_ he asked for. Examining a live Shade would give him the knowledge of biology, but to give that information up might cause many more Shade harm. Carson found himself trapped, torn between what he'd forgotten, and what he'd almost allowed himself to do. "No. I can't do it. If studying this creature means you'll use that knowledge to annihilate their species, then I won't do it."

The man in the armor remained still, almost as if he was considering what to do next. He looked around, seemingly checking for anyone watching. "You surprise me, Doctor. Aulus was right about your people." His arm suddenly lost the armor, and a gloved hand extended out to Carson in a spread finger pose. "I said trust is earned, and you earned it."

Confused, Carson carefully accepted the hand, their fingers interlacing. "Pardon?"

The man squeezed softly, then let go and let his armor reform over his arm. "I'll admit, a large part of me wants you to do your studies, to get something worthwhile against the Shade, but another part… the important part…" he nodded to Carson and then motioned to the door. "I can't let you go now, but when your people come, I won't stop them. Leave your equipment, that much I must ask."

Carson could see that something was very strange here, almost as if it had been a test rather than an actual call for help. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

A moment's hesitation, and an even toned response. "Because there's more to life than death."

A simple answer, but a very complicated meaning. Carson couldn't even begin to think about what it meant, and instead watched as the soldier moved off. "Wait!"

Stopping at the doorway, the soldier turned his head. "Yes?"

"At least tell me your name."

The man took a few seconds, and finally he answered. "Aleron."

He left the room, and Carson was left standing there with a terrified child Shade Gremlin.

* * *

"I… I need to know, John. I need to be able to look at you and…" Sam left the statement unsaid. She knew John would get it.

John for that matter sighed and ran his hand along her back in their sorrowful embrace. "Are you sure? I mean… once we… once we start…"

Sam nodded and continued whispering, her leg was still hurting but this was more important right now. "I know… and… and I'm worried. I'm worried all we're ever going to be is friends and…" she froze and let her head fall onto his shoulder. _"…and I'm worried that if I don't do this now…"_

John could see her dilemma. He had a similar dilemma, not nearly as acute, but it was there nonetheless, a clash of professional and personal life. The only problem was that now, with no home to go to besides here, they had become the same. "I don't want to lose you… I…" John choked, his arms tightening. "_I've lost too much. I want you, Sam."_

Sam couldn't help but feel flattered. She knew just what John had been through and what he was capable of. But maybe that's why he felt the way he did… and the way she felt about him. "I… I'm stubborn, John… I'm cursed. I… the people I get… close to… they have a tendency to… _die."_

John raised his eyebrows, and he realized that Sam was giving her confession, something she felt she had to get out before they could do this. "Uhh…" He tried to think of a way to reply without being sarcastic, but it was too hard. "I think my own curse cancels that out. It's like I can't die so… so maybe we'll be okay."

Sam snorted softly, and hugged John tighter. All that remained was….

John sighed harshly, and pushed Sam away for a bit. "I… uhh… I have to tell you something… and I know you're not going to like it."

Sam was curious how he'd come about it. Larrin had told her straight out, would John do the same? "Can't be worse than my black widow curse."

John didn't smile, and instead he bit the inside of his lips. "Sam, I… _aw fuck…._" He looked emotional, fighting to hold back what he wanted to say. "A few… a few weeks before Christmas… Larrin came to my office and…" He let it hang for a moment, and Sam worried that he wasn't going to say it, but then he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. "…_we had sex."_

Sam bowed her hear, and could see the shame on his face. Not that he'd done the deed, but rather that he preferred the shame of her knowing than trying to hide it. "…_I know." _Sam watched John's look of horror, and took his hand in hers. "_Larrin told me… god, she told me on Christmas."_ Still, John was catatonic. Sam thought he was oddly cute while terrified. "_I… it hurt. God, it hurt so bad, but I know, I know you stopped her, John… she was hurting and… god, as much as I want to hate her, I can't blame her, and I can't hate her… or you. I'm upset but… I can deal with it. As long as you tell me what we are then… then I can deal with it."_

John bowed his head in shame, but at the same time he couldn't believe what Sam was saying. He'd been scared to death to admit this, but it had turned out so differently than he'd expected. He wasn't going to fall into a trap though, and he took a page from Drake's book he'd caught on. "Sam… what… what are we gonna have?"

Sam furrowed her brow as she sniffled and smiled softly. "What?"

Knowing that he'd have to explain it. John bit the bullet and tried to speak rationally. "Before… we had… _relief…_" Pushing past the memories, John spoke more confidently now. "…what do we want now?"

Sam took her time thinking of a response. It wasn't an easy question, but she realized that she did have an answer. "…_intimacy."_

John chuckled at the answer, but it was a joyful chuckle. "_Agreed."_

Sam chuckled as well, and looked up at John. "I'm warning you, this won't be the only time I'm a stubborn bitch."

John pulled Sam closer again, and whispered in her ear. "_But this is the only time i won't stop you."_

Sam whimpered as she felt John's breath along her neck, she resisted crying out as her leg complained. "_Thanks…." _Looking at John again as she pulled away, Sam whispered. "Kiss me."

John raised an eyebrow. "Is that an order?"

Sam decided to be just as playful. "I thought you said you didn't have to follow my orders anymo…" Before she could finish, she found John's lips on hers.

It was different than any other time they'd kissed, except maybe the first time after Proculus… no… not even then. This was different… this was unfettered and completely voluntary on both of their parts.

It lasted for a few moments, and finally their lips broke apart, a thin strand of saliva creating a bridge between them.

Sam felt her leg twitch again as John's leg brushed up against her. So she decided to move onto the next step. "John?"

"Yeah?"

"I think it's time."

John raised his eyebrows. "Time?"

Sam nodded, and decided to tease him a little. "I've been waiting for this for awhile now." Her smile was seductive, her tone just ever so slightly sensual.

John seemed a little taken aback, but he wasn't dismayed. "Oh? And uhh… what would that be?" His tone was equally sensual, his playfulness the background.

Sam whispered romantically. "_Call Reyna… I think I pulled something." _

Deflated, but not defeated, John chuckled. "Ah, well… we'll work on that."

* * *

Chuck wasn't used to going through the gate, let alone pulling a wheelbarrow behind him like a rickshaw. But this was the weirdest missions he'd been asked to participate in, and he hoped he wouldn't get stoned… _in the bad way._

Immediately there were 3 gauss rifles leveled at him, and Chuck raised his hands. "Whoa! _Uhh_… I'm guessing you guys didn't get the memo?"

The three soldiers looked at him strangely, and followed him as he stepped to the side of the stargate, dragging the wheelbarrow behind him. The gate remained active, and a few seconds after Chuck had moved to the side, it rippled as if something passed through, but nothing was visible.

The Soldiers didn't notice, and they began the questioning. "What are you doing here? Your Doctor is within our labs, you are needlessly infecting yourself."

Chuck shrugged, and began the distraction. "Well, one of the things my people do when our people are sick is to comfort those people. I bring you the magic of chocolate! Not the real stuff mind you, but it's close enough."

The soldiers furrowed their brows, wondering what the hell Chuck was talking about. None of them were mentally adept enough to catch on that Chuck had just moved out of the way of a cloaked jumper coming through, and the chocolate was to distract as many of them as possible.

* * *

"How'd you get him to agree? Isn't he in danger?"

Alicia shrugged. "Let's just say Laura happened to tell me something she knows that Larrin did that Chuck doesn't want to get out in the open."

Dan blinked a few times, but Dusty was the one to comment. "Uhh… okay. That's not exactly an answer."

Alicia turned and nodded. "Exactly."

Pushing the odd wording aside, Dan pointed to the HUD. "I'm guessing that flashing dot is him?"

Nodding, Alicia began to look around for a place to put the Jumper down and begin the infiltration. "Yep, new rules Carter and Sheppard have put in. Anyone going off world has more than just a subcutaneous transmitter. The Travelers have a small subspace beacon we can track over larger distances."

Dan turned to Alicia. "What? You do some studying while I'm not looking?"

Blushing slightly, Alicia shook her head. "No… Ella wouldn't let me leave her lab until I could say that from memory.""

Dusty chuckled, but then lost the smile as she sighed. "Wish she'd come, might run into some computer gizmo we need to fix."

To her mild surprise, Dan shook his head. "Don't worry, that's what I brought this for." He opened the velcroed flap of his uniform, revealing a miniature cutting torch.

Alicia merely rolled her eyes. "Typical male, if it's in your way, destroy it."

* * *

Carson sat and watched the creature; it was still tied down, still afraid. What kind of feelings did it have? Was it hungry? Thirsty? How long had it been trapped here?

Curiosity screamed at him: scan it, figure out as much as possible, and then just leave. But through some strange twist of fate, this silicon-based life form had been able to show him just all he'd lost in the past 3 years.

Above him, there was some rattling from what he assumed was a venting system. It came as a bit of a surprise, but at the same time he thought about what Aleron had told him. They were coming for him.

The grill smashed down, and the Shade creature hissed in fear. It tried to break through the straps that held it down yet again, but to no avail.

A pair of well toned legs in leather pants swung down, and Carson immediately recognized it from the physical he'd given her a few weeks ago. "Lieutenant!"

Dusty dropped down and instantly was on guard, her particle magnum up and ready to fire. "Doc! Come on we need to…" Dusty noticed the Shade creature on the floor and fell back in surprise, narrowly checking herself from instinctively firing at the Shade. _"Wahag!! Holy shit!"_

Carson shook his head and held his hands up. "Wait! It's tied down! He can't hurt you!"

A few seconds later, a head stuck out of the vent. "The hell's going on?"

Carson resisted laughing. "Great timing, Captain! We're fine, but we need to get out of here."

Drake nodded, and a moment later, a rope came down. "Come on! I'll pull you up!"

Not hesitating, Carson moved over and began to loop the rope around his belt. "We need to hurry Aleron left awhile ago, but I don't know when he'll be back."

Dusty was still staring at the Shade creature. "What about Rover here?"

Taking a second to think, both about what "rover" meant and what to do, Carson raised his eyebrows in a sudden bad idea. "Lieutenant… I think you should go first."

* * *

Chuck felt somewhat disappointed. He'd been expecting to find families here, little kids who'd fall in love with chocolate and him. Not these almost cookie cutter teenage soldier wannabes with the flu. "We can trade you the seeds we use to grow it. Even teach you how to process it to get to this."

The young woman who seemed to be the leader of the pack of people who'd come to greet Chuck after the soldiers were convinced not to kill him, smiled at him. "I've never had anything like this before, it's sweet but at the same time… not so much that it gorges me."

Chuck still couldn't get used to the almost professional speech of the Olim. It was like living in a Shakespeare novel. "Oh trust me, you can get _gorged_ on it."

To Chuck's surprise, his PDA began to vibrate. That wasn't part of the plan. The woman noticed as she began to count the heads of everyone around to ensure that everyone would get a taste. "Are you carrying some kind of toy?"

Chuck snorted once as he replied. "Ha, no, it's not a toy." He pulled the PDA out and saw the data burst Alicia had sent him. Thankfully the Olim didn't read English so they didn't see the big _"Get everyone the fuck inside!" _she'd sent in the giant Comic Sans font Chuck enjoyed to no end. Hmm… Dusty must have been the one to send this. "Uhh… hey listen, this is no place to do this. Do you have like a town hall or a community center where we can give this out?"

The woman nodded and pointed. "The barrack mess hall will suffice. If there is any surplus, we can even refrigerate it if it requires it."

Chuck slid the PDA into his pants and tried not to give away his worry. "That's good! Well… No, it doesn't need to be cold, but melted chocolate can get… _sticky._"

* * *

"This is the stupidest thing we've ever done."

Dan shrugged as he looked out the viewport where the center of the small Olim community stood. "I dunno, that time I mooned a Wraith was pretty bad but yeah, this is kinda takes the cake."

Despite the insanity of what he'd just heard, Carson shrugged. "It's a risk yes, but if what I'm thinking is true, then we're about to learn more of the Shade than any examination I could do would achieve."

Alicia was sweating. _God, why didn't they ASK her?_ Carson had simply given his plan and… and now there was _so_ much at risk. "Let's just hope you're right, Doctor."

Dusty was seated behind Alicia and she spoke with a reassuring voice. "I think Carson's right… that thing didn't…"

A loud noise outside caught their attention, and even as the Jumper hovered over the building where Drake had used a torch to cut into the roof, the occupants felt just a little fear as a man sized tear suddenly broke out the side of the building.

The infant Gremlin leapt out and roared furiously. Dusty still wasn't sure about having fed the thing her 's energy cap, but if Carson was right, it would care more about escape than it would vengeance. Especially since the Olim were more than capable of taking it down.

Thankfully, Chuck had gotten mostly everyone inside with the allure of chocolate. Alicia had to admit, sometimes Larrin had great ideas. "Alright, I'm locking on just in case. Carson you better be right or we're fucked."

Unwilling to reply to such language, Carson simply sighed dejectedly.

* * *

_**A/N:** I know alot of the John/Sam fans have been waiting for this, i just hope the build up was satisfying ^_^the final chapter of this episode goes up in a few days._


	38. MercyLess Fourth Quarter

It happened so fast that he didn't know what to do, and Aleron had barely been able to get his hand up in defense before the Shade crashed headlong into him and slammed the armored man into the side of the building. The armor more than withstood the hit, but Aleron inside was disoriented as hell. Even worse, the creature had lifted him up, and now he fell a further ten feet to the ground after leaving a man shaped dent in the building.

The Atlanteans must have been behind this, it was the only explanation. The Doctor must have released the restraints and the creature had simply burrowed its way out.

Clawing up to his knees, he could see the broken hole in the half buried lab wall. The metal had been frozen and shattered; the creature must have absorbed some energy somehow after its escape.

Without a weapon, Aleron knew that the Porta guards would likely be the ones to get this kill. He focused, and pushed hard off the ground to leap up to the top of the building he'd just been slammed against to get a good viewpoint.

No one… _there was no one at the Astria Porta! _What in _frozen wastelands _was going on!?

* * *

"Tell me I'm not seeing that."

Dan scoffed softly as he watched the same thing unfold. "That little fucker's dialing the gate!"

And indeed, the young Shade Gremlin was hovering above the DHD and, with one appendage, dialed in a sequence before backing off and allowing the gate to dial.

Alicia couldn't believe it. Dusty's disbelief was a shared attribute between them all. "How the hell does it know?"

Carson replied easily, and his voice seemed almost somber. "If you kick a dog, it'll fight back, but just because it fights back, doesn't mean it's not intelligent and has survival instincts."

Nobody could really say anything after that, but Alicia took careful note to log what planet the Shade had just dialed, and now flew through the gate to. All she'd have to do is wait now, wait until Chuck dialed Atlantis and nobody would ever know that the Jumper had been here.

* * *

"Colonel?"

Finally! As if learning that Carson's diplomatic ties with the Olim were fracturing, then getting kicked out of his own quarters while Reyna treated Sam's injury, then having to wait outside for 30 minutes hadn't been bad enough, _now_ he was _graciously_ being told to come back in. "About time."

Reyna gave John a sarcastic smile. "She's _fine._ Just a strained muscle. She's promised to go easy on the weights, but I don't believe her. So I'm telling _you_ right now. If you don't stop her next time, I'm going to personally jam Carson's biggest scalpel up your ass and _twist!"_

Seeing that she was joking, yet still serious at the same time, John put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll stun her before this happens again." He thought for a second, then whispered. "Don't you… have like some obligation not to tell me unless she says you can?"

Reyna furrowed her brow. "What? Why shouldn't you know? If she's incapacitated, you should know so you can plan accordingly. I'm not going to spread it around, but the right people are gonna know."

That worried John. Sam was a very private person and for this to get out in this manner was _not_ something she was going to appreciate. "Uhh… listen, Rey… could you… keep this on the down low?"

Reyna shrugged in confusion. "Excuse me?"

John sighed and decided to be blunt. "Just… don't tell anyone else. Please. Sam's…" He sighed, and looked at the closed door behind which Sam was probably propped up on the bed.

Reyna nodded. "Yeah… well. This isn't serious so… Yeah, I won't say anything…" John breathed a sigh of relief. "However…"

John raised his eyebrows in sudden horror. "However…what?"

Reyna let out a short sharp sigh. "Her leg needs time for the protein culture to heal over the tear. She shouldn't move her leg for at least a day. She should get some sleep as well so her body can heal." Reyna had a half smile as she said it.

It took John a few seconds to realize what that meant. "Wait… so you mean…?" he motioned to the door, his head jerking just slightly and smile almost nervous. "…_here?"_

Reyna snickered softly, and bit her lips before replying. "It would be for the best… the less she moves around the faster she'll heal."

John simply raised his head, rubbed his face for a second, then sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if the universe has some kind of flow to it. Coincidence doesn't make sense anymore."

* * *

It had taken another hour and a half, but Chuck was pretty sure they didn't suspect him for the escape of the Shade creature. He was careful to dial Atlantis, then wait a few moments to let the cloaked Jumper through before going through himself. The chocolate had been a great distraction, and if he didn't have a girlfriend who'd strap him to a shopping cart packed with explosives and throw him down a big hill…

Then again, the shopping carts sounded fun.

He stepped onto Atlantis and wasn't surprised to find that things had gotten a bit exciting. It was overall a pretty bland mission, but hey, didn't happen everyday.

* * *

"Colonel Carter is… _indisposed."_

Larrin made a face at that. "What do you mean _indisposed? _She'd want to hear this."

John tried to come up with a good explanation for why Sam was in his quarters that didn't involve the high school rumors, but thankfully Reyna did a great job covering. "What Sheppard means is, Carter is resting on my orders. It's not like we can do anything about this _right now,_ so we can tell her when she wakes up." It was ambiguous and real enough at the same time that everyone bought it. Reyna gave John a slight stare and then nodded. "I think we should go. We might be able to get a Shade creature ourselves and be able to study it here in Atlantis without Olim interference."

Carson growled softly at the phrase. "I'm sorry, but why exactly would we be doing that?"

Reyna shrugged. "Well… they're a completely different form of life. I'd love to know exactly how they can digest naquadah into a fuel for their "Gremlins."

Carson softened his gaze, and he looked up at John. "Sheppard, I'm only going to say this once. If I do any testing on a Shade creature, it will be to find out about their biology, and how to treat it. I will not be party to the slaughter of a species."

Larrin screwed her face in thought. "Are you serious? Those things don't care; those things aren't intelligent like we are. Just because it can dial a ring doesn't mean we should let it blow up planets and stars. We've got a right to live too, you know."

John didn't know what to say. Dammit, this wasn't what he signed up for! Carson continued his argument in front of the rest of the team. "You're right, but there has to be a way we can peacefully coexist. That Shade creature had intelligence, it had emotions, and it had enough sentience to know to escape instead of fighting back."

Larrin snorted. "So do plenty of other animals, but we still kill them for food. And most aren't willing to blow up the planet I'm on just to get some minerals."

Shaking his head, Carson continued. "These creatures have technology and quite possibly we can communicate with them,"

Larrin gave Carson a sardonic sneer. "So did the Wraith, and look what you did to them."

John couldn't take this anymore, this was about to devolve into a fist fight and he hadn't placed any bets yet. _"Enough!"_ he slammed his fist into the table, scaring everyone into silence. "We don't _have_ to do _anything_ just yet! Let's wait on it and see what the consequences with the Olim are first. They might be different, but they're not stupid. It's pretty much guaranteed that they'll find out we pulled you out Doc, so I think we need to worry about that before we start worrying about some damn crystal bug creatures!"

The group seemed to agree, and finally Dan spoke up. "How about we send a probe to the planet it dialed? Get an idea what's there."

John shrugged relenting. "That's a good idea, let's take things slow and we'll see where we go. Now if that's all?" Nobody else really had anything to say, the mission had been quick and clean, and John knew the other shoe was waiting to drop. "Good."

* * *

"Carson?"

Carson wasn't exactly in the mood for company. He knew he was pushing too hard, but he needed to counteract everything that had happened. _"Yes?" _He kept his voice terse.

To his mild surprise, Reyna set down the tray with what appeared to be steaks. "Dinner."

Carson laughed softly in contrast to his feelings as he remembered Reyna's offer. "Remember what I told you about surprises?"

Reyna shrugged and handed one of the plates over to him. 'Do you think tonight's going to end badly?"

Carson took a few seconds to think about it. Looking at Reyna, he saw more amusement than seduction. She was teasing him, and in so doing, breaking through the layers of anger he had. Dammit, how the hell was she so perceptive?! "No… but I can't help but think that maybe it should have."

Reyna rolled her eyes and pulled out her canteen. "Eat! You haven't had anything for hours. I still need to go over a few things with you about the move, but that can wait."

The conversation continued, and Carson began to question when his personal life had become his work and vice versa.

* * *

"Incoming signal, it's the Olim."

John sighed, he was expecting this and now it was crunch time. "Keep the shield up. Make sure they know it's up."

Chuck transmitted the signal, and now John's back was covered. A few seconds passed and Aulus' voice came though. "Atlantis, this is Proconsul Centaurus, I would like to speak to Colonel… Carter."

John could sense the hesitation in his voice, likely he'd wanted to speak to him, but they'd been hammering that Sam was their leader for so long that it seemed to be taking, finally. If only… "Aulus, this is Colonel Sheppard. Colonel Carter is indisposed right now. What's the problem?"

On the screen, Aulus's hard features resolved into image. "I have just heard what happened on the Beta Telemite colony. I trust Doctor Beckett is safe with you?"

John nodded, seeing that Aulus was laterally telling him that he knew. "Yeah, the Doc is just fine."

With an air of formality, Aulus bowed his head. "I would like to convey my personal apologies. My Chief of Medical, Decius Telarus has been disciplined for his breach of protocol. I had no warning of what he intended to do."

John looked over his shoulder and saw Larrin standing there, defiant and almost goading him into confronting Aulus. The man seemed sincere though, and John wanted to see what he had to say. "Yeah, well… no offense or anything, but we're not surprised."

Aulus raised an eyebrow. "Then you're more wary than I was. I shall not make the same mistake again. I can only explain that my people are dangerously curious as to what technology and knowledge the inhabitants of Atlantis bring. So much so that I am willing to keep the offer your doctor made with Decius."

A few seconds passed, and Chuck noticed his console beeping "We're getting a transmission, it's a lot of data in an archive format."

John turned to Chuck, then back to Aulus. "And this is?"

Aulus stated matter of factly. "Our Medical Database. I can understand if you are guarded in dealing with us after this incident, but I hope this show of good faith will only strengthen what we might have lost."

Chuck called out as he looked to John. "It looks legit, there's a lot of medical mumbo jumbo here. Rey and Carson are gonna freak."

A little taken aback by Chuck's colloquial speech, John simply nodded. "Cool." Turning to Aulus, he nodded. "Well then, really there's not much of a problem. I do think that the next time we send someone, an escort might be handy."

Aulus nodded graciously. "Of course, I do ask that we have warning next time, so I can send my most trusted warrior to accompany them and prevent any… _incidents._"

John didn't like that word, and he didn't like the implications Aulus had just made. Something was very wrong, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. "Alright, that's fair. How about we meet here again in a few days? I'm sure we can work something out after this… _annoyance."_

Aulus nodded. "I look forward to it, Colonel Sheppard. I will contact you in a few days. Good night."

With that, the communication ended and the wormhole shut down. Larrin took a position near John, close enough to talk, but at the same time, not a personal distance away. "He's lying."

John idly nodded as he sighed. "Yeah… but about what?"

* * *

"You're cruel, you know that?"

John shrugged. "Get used to it, it's for your own good." He tossed his regular shirt off and slipped on his sleeping t-shirt. "I gave you a few days. With Marks and the Travelers out there mining, and Larrin taking a bigger role, really you and me just need to worry about defense and trade."

Sam hated this, well not really, but she did resent that she'd been stuck here for hours. It had been… _tricky_ when she had to hobble over to the washroom to pee. "Well, with any luck this whole incident will give them the push to start giving us what we need."

John nodded and looked at Sam as he reached for the lamp. "Right side or left?"

Sam groaned softly. "When I came here I wasn't expecting to spend the night, just so you know." She smirked deviously. "Just keep your hands where I can see them at all times and there won't be any problems."

John chuckled, and turned off the light. He shifted himself into the bed and wasn't surprised when Sam cuddled up a bit. "Ah, so as long as you can see my hands it doesn't matter?"

Sam glared at him. "Touch me without my permission and die."

John snorted as he pulled Sam into a cuddle hug. "You keep threatening me. Eventually it's going to lose all meaning."

Sam put her hand on John's chest in the dark; she pushed away for a second and then spoke in a hushed tone. "I'm serious John, I want to wait." She sighed and then whispered the next part. "I want to take things slow… get used to it, so that…" laying back down, Sam let her head rest on his shoulder. "…so that things go right."

John could tell that Sam was worried about this new step in their relationship. He wasn't foolish enough to think that she was scared, rather John figured that Sam just really wanted this to work and… and he'd have to be patient. So he said nothing as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her softly on the neck, being cautious as to where his hands wandered.

She didn't fight back, and John closed his eyes now, thankful that the one good thing that came out of his and Sam's former sleeping arrangement was that blue balls didn't hurt nearly as badly anymore.

* * *

"Why do you insist on making a fool out of yourself? They must think you're the most idiotic leader this side of the universe!"

Aulus shrugged. "You have much to learn. These Atlanteans may not be our equals physically, but they are intelligent in their own right. A careful and sharp manipulation will yield ten-fold what a blunt edge would in the long term."

"But our medical database..? You've given them so much for so little in return."

Pressing his hands together like in prayer, Aulus stared back. "An investment in the future, only a fool spends all he has now."

A few moments of hesitation, and the armored figure bowed his head. "I guess you're right. I do see more potential in them than the others admit. It's just frustrating to be working both angles without knowing where the center is!"

Cracking his knuckles by forming a fist, Aulus then brought up the information on his console of when the other Proconsuls would be available to go to Atlantis. He chuckled at the warrior's assessment of the situation. "Then _you_ should stop and consider the situation if you are so lost. By appearing weak, the Atlanteans will prefer us over the others because they will think they can deal with, or perhaps even manipulate me. In a few weeks we can extend an invitation to them to visit the senate on Centurias. I am sure Doctor Jackson would enjoy it tremendously."

The armored man in front of him raised his head in mild alarm. "Proconsul… are you sure that is wise? If the others learn what you have done…"

Aulus waved off the warning. "They already think I am senile, their zealotry and…" Aulus stopped; the next part was perhaps a bit too much for the young man before him to hear. "…and ignorance… will only create a rift between us and Atlantis. I am not foolish enough to think that we can tamper with that dormant beast and get away without irrevocable harm."

The man in armor bowed his head for a moment and asked. "Do you believe in Progenesis?"

Aulus scoffed. He'd been expecting this question for years and now it seems almost comical. "Not in the slightest. A child's story for men with bigger egos than hearts."

Neither man said anything for a bit, but the armored one stood and began to walk away. "I will have my leave of you."

Before he could leave the door though, Aulus stood and called out. "Aleron!"

The named man turned, "Yes, Proconsul?"

Aulus sighed softly, he had to be careful how far he allowed his feelings to show. Aleron had become something important, something special, and the wrong decision could tip his soul into damnation. "I may be asking much of you in the coming weeks… I want to know what you truly think of the Atlanteans."

Aleron cracked his jaw. He was still a little sore from the pummeling earlier in the day, but his opinion hadn't changed. "The same as our own people. Some are worthy, some not."

That was the best Aulus could hope for, and he prayed that what he was expecting to happen in the coming months wouldn't be as bad as he imagined. He took a few seconds to show Aleron that he was proud, simply letting their shared feelings show more than his words could. He then nodded and sat down again. "Go, I'm sure your sister is quite angry that you are late for your session."

Aleron smiled. "Sometimes I wonder whether her tolerance is devotion, or masochism. Good night, father."

With that, Aleron left the room and his father alone.

* * *

**A/N:** Aleron is going to be a recurring character. Were this an actual show, he would be played by **John Barrowman** of Torchwood and Dr Who fame :P I rarely watch said shows, but he's got the right "look" of teh character for your minds eye :)

**Teaser for Episode 17 – Shattered**

**Alicia Vega:** Where'd you get that?

**Dan Drake:** Laura gave it to me. Said if she couldn't use it, I might as well.

**Dusty Mehra:** _Are Baap Re! _ The hell are you? A suicide bomber?!

**Dan Drake:** Well, you're half right.

**Rafaela Esposito:** Which half!?


	39. Shattered First Third

**Episode 17 – Shattered (1/3)**

* * *

_245 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**Alicia Vega:** Where'd you get that?

**Dan Drake:** Laura gave it to me. Said if she couldn't use it, I might as well.

**Dusty Mehra:** _Are Baap Re! _ The hell are you? A suicide bomber?!

**Dan Drake:** Well, you're half right.

**Rafaela Esposito:** Which half!?

* * *

_"Colonel! We need you out here!"_

Sam perked up from her desk, where she was working on the latest designs she and John had come up with for their 302 modifications, when Chuck's cry came over the radio. She didn't even bother to answer and rushed out, knowing already that it likely wasn't one of the Traveler teams that were scavenging.

She was proven correct as Reyna backpedaled through the stargate with her P90 up. Her EVA suit looked dirty and scuffed, as did Drake's as he rushed forward holding someone in his arms.

Sam rushed down as well after ordering Chuck to call medics. Drake looked up at Chuck in the control room and screamed. "_Don't shut it down!"_

The always on duty Traveler guards moved ahead and helped Dan with who Sam now saw was Rafaela. She was by far dirtier and in the worst shape, as Dusty and Alicia now came through as well, both from around the middle of the event horizon, and fell back as if they had jumped through from above…

Reyna was instantly on the floor next to Rafaela, peeling back at the flexible helmet section and screaming for medical assistance. To her surprise, Dan pulled out a detonator from his vest and looked back at the gate. "_Bog Te Jebo,_ _Mothafuckas."_

Before Sam could say anything. Dan pulled the safety cover off the detonator and used his thumb to flick the kill switch that emitted a beep.

Nothing happened for 2 seconds, but then the gate began to crackle as if hit with interference. Dusty and Alicia quickly backed off surprised by what had just happened.

Nobody said anything as the gate began to tremble and the event horizon flickered. Sam walked up to Dan as more medics came in to help Reyna get Rafaela on a stretcher. Everyone else was looking at Dan, who simply watched as the open stargate finally gave one last flicker and shut off violently.

Alicia was the first to recover, she turned her whole body to Dan and through her EVA suit's speaker said. "Dan…. What did you do?"

Dan simply stared back, and asked himself the same question in disbelief.

_"What did you do!?"_

* * *

-------------- 1 Day Earlier---------------

* * *

"Dan? Are you here Dan?"

Rafaela was being very careful about poking her head inside Dan's quarters. Granted, she wouldn't mind the eyecandy, but everyone's teasing of Alicia, while fun, wasn't something she wanted to experience first hand.

The room was dark, but not so dark that she couldn't see Dan as he got up from his bed. "Hey Ella, come on in."

Rafaela finally poked her head in and smiled nervously. "Are you… _decent?"_

Dan scoffed and yawned as he stretched his arms. "Decent, no, clothed, yes."

Relieved yet at the same time confused, Rafaela entered and rubbed her hands together. "I uhh… did you forget?"

The lights turned on, surprising her a little. Dan was already in his uniform despite having a snooze. "You're late."

Shrugging around embarrassedly, Rafaela motioned to the door. "Yeah yea… I uhh… I overslept. Usually I set my alarm clock, but last night Radek was going a little crazy on this one Ancient device that seems to be a precursor to the shielding technology we found here in the first year, and Colonel Carter and Sheppard were insistent that we…"

As she spoke, Dan had gotten up, cracked his neck, and given her a stare before realizing he'd have to interrupt her. "_Ella!"_

She shirked back and gave her nervous grin again. "Sorry."

Dan simply rolled his eyes and motioned with his head. "S'okay, used to it."

Rafaela nodded and then gingerly kept motioning to the door. "Well then, let's go! I want to get this over with so I can get back to work."

Dan rubbed his eyes as he moved out of his room and locked the door. He'd considered asking for tomorrow off, but that meant he'd have to explain why and that was something he certainly wasn't in any mood to do. So instead Dan just bottled it up as always, relegating himself to do what he always did.

He knew Alicia would probably set up some kind of booby trap if he left the door unlocked again, so he muttered as he waved his hand over the security panel. "I still don't get why we're doing this. It's not like we can go to that planet without a Jumper or space suits. And you can't really shoot a rifle in those bigass things."

Rafaela gave Dan a look of hope. "Really? Oh well then, maybe we can just cancel it and go for a joyride in a Jumper or something."

Dan smiled but resisted his laugh. "You saying you'd rather go out with me than learn how to shoot a rifle?"

Taken aback by the question, Rafaela stopped in her tracks before turning to Dan with a confused face. "Yes?"

Dan didn't resist his laugh anymore.

* * *

"Just remember. You _squeeze_ the trigger, you don't _pull_ on it. Here, 'lemme show you."

Shifting in her prone position, Dan knelt down and wrapped his arms around hers to show her the proper way to hold the rifle. "Alright here.. finger _off_ the trigger until you're ready to fire. Keep it nice and tight in your shoulder like this…" Dan shifted the rifle back and noticed Rafaela squirm under him. "Am I bothering you?"

Rafaela hesitated a second, and then nodded softly as she whispered. _"A little."_

Dan backed off instantly, realizing that even though she was comfortable with his touch, she was still wary of close contact. He tried to set the rifle in place using only his hands. "Alright… here… you're not used to such a heavy weapon, but the leather from the uniform'll help with the recoil. I've set the gun to single shot mode so don't worry, it won't go drive-by on you."

Rafaela hated this. She hated guns to start with; learning to fire a modified Fabric Nation scar with preperation-H something or other was _not_ something she'd often considered a part of her daily life. "Don't you have something lighter? It's tiring to hold this thing up."

Dan resisted groaning. "You get used to it. You should really hit the gym more often, you've got all this…"

Dan began to poke Rafaela playfully, first getting her in the arms, then to her sides, which she couldn't help but laugh at. "Ow! Stop! Hahaha, Dan! I'm ticklish…!"

The captain chuckled and obliged, "Just pointin' it out. Now come on, we can start with prone shooting and we'll work our way up to standing. Leese wants me to make sure you and Rey-Rey can use these things until you guys finish those new weapons Larrin promised."

Rafaela grunted, and took proper hold of the weapon as she was taught. "That's awhile away. A railgun is easy to design, but unless we can design something like that Olim Armor that has its own power pack, we're stuck with these for now. And I know we've only got limited ammunition, so I really think my time would be better spent…"

Again, Dan groaned. "You know, if I were kinkier, I'd suggest a ball gag."

It took a second for Rafaela to understand what he'd just said, but as soon as it clicked in her mind, she screeched. _"DAN!"_

* * *

Thankfully, Rafaela hadn't turned the gun on Dan after his uncouth comment, but rather had given him an elbow to the solar plexus. She was now apologizing as she met up with the team for lunch. "How did you two deal with him for so long?"

Alicia shrugged and took a sip of her fruit juice, after swallowing some freshly grilled spider meat from Outpost Zeta Twelve. "He wasn't always like this. I think he just realizes I'm not going to kill him, so he's bolder now."

Dan snorted as he cracked his knuckles and looked across from the mess hall table. "Please, like I had a chance to smart mouth when we had 20 Wraith trying to eat our asses."

Dusty snickered softly and hid behind her glass of water. "Have I told you ladies about our Captain and Major's last night in Pegasus?"

Alicia turned to Dusty. "Aw, come on, Dust-o, you know I was drunk."

Both Reyna and Rafaela were surprised, but they maintained their civility with their laughs. Reyna turned to Dan with a somewhat surprised look. "You don't mean…?"

Dan realized that if he let Reyna finish that sentence, Alicia was going to do unmentionable horrors to him as soon as she got the chance. "Yep, I kicked her ass and she punched me in the face."

Rafaela snorted as she tried to imagine it. "What? I never heard anything about that. I thought you walked into a door or something."

Reyna laughed hard, "I'm trying to decide whether you two actually hurt each other, or if it's just a euphemism for…"

Alicia cleared her throat and laid down the law. "It's _not!_ And we were _drunk._ That is my only defense."

Again deciding to tempt fate, Dan rubbed his chin pensitively. "You did wake up drooling on my shoulder, though."

Reyna couldn't help but admire Alicia's aim with the slice of pineapple she threw.

* * *

"You're not a half bad shot, you know that?"

Reyna shrugged and twisted her shoulder. "Well, I am a Doctor. I'm sure you'll say something about smooth hands or precision."

Dan knew she was just teasing; most of the Traveler women did this sort of thing. It was just a part of their culture for everyone to be able to talk in a non-formal way. "Rey, _whatever_ gave you _that_ idea?"

They both chuckled, and Dan hit the target return button, bringing the paper target that was fifty feet away back towards them. Reyna left the SCAR on the ground as she got up. "Oh just something Kraya told me about something called the "Kama Sutra." She said it was very… _enlightening."_

Dan couldn't help it and started laughing out loud. "Aw shit, you serious? Hahaha! Guess you'll be wanting to borrow that now."

Reyna snickered and pulled herself up by grabbing Dan's extended hand. "Not now, soon though." She gave a seductive wink.

Dan calmed down and then looked to the floor. "Forgetting something?"

Reyna's face instantly went into a pout. "Oh come on, it's not even loaded."

Dan lost the amusement in his voice. "Has anyone told you the Marine's Rifle Creed yet?"

Shaking her head, Reyna now became fascinated. "No, what is it?"

Dan knelt down for a moment and picked up the empty rifle. He held the shortened weapon in his arms and squeezed the pistol grip and the handguard before taking a breath and reciting from memory. "_This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will..."_

Reyna was surprised, she'd never heard Dan speak so seriously before. She leaned back into the sidewall of the shooting range and continued to listen as Dan now began to inspect the rifle.

_"My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit..."_ Dan took a little pause to eject the clip, then clear the chamber before checking the barrel.

_"My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will..."_

Reyna watched as Dan expertly disassembled the top rail section of the weapon, calmly setting each piece down in the little case he'd brought the rifle in. Each piece fitting snugly into the little foam cutouts.

_"Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my…" _Dan stopped suddenly, realizing that the rest of the creed really didn't make any sense in his situation anymore.

Reyna noticed and quietly whispered. "_Defenders of your…?"_

Dan took a moment to think. What mattered to him now? Life on Atlantis was pretty much like life in Iraq was, except the blistering heat, and the constant smell of burning garbage, and the…

Well, maybe Atlantis was a lot better, but still. What did he care about? Finally he came up with an answer and finished the modified creed._ "…family. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is… ours and there is no enemy, but peace."_

Contemplative, Reyna said nothing as she watched Dan finish disassembling the weapon and store it in the case for later cleaning.

* * *

"I've been wanting to ask you, why'd you never try anything with me?"

Dan turned to look at Reyna as she lay stomach down on the foot of his bed. He sat with his back to the wall as they watched _"Chappelle's Show, Season 1" _with the majority of jokes flying over Reyna's head. "That an invitation?"

Reyna scoffed and shook her head. "No, but I'm just curious. Kraya and Renata don't seem to mind everyone knowing, but I know you've talked to others too."

Dan shrugged and sighed. "This hasn't been bugging you for awhile, has it?"

Laying her head down on her arms like pillows, she turned and shook her head. "Well… no… but everyone knows you're not exactly subtle."

Dan snorted in mock offense. "I'm mildly offended."

Reyna smiled and waggled her socked feet in the air as she looked at him. "I'm _sure_ you're subtle after you tell a woman you want in her pants."

They both laughed a bit, and after a few not so awkward moments Dan replied. "You really wanna know?"

Reyna forgot all about the show, and now shifted to face Dan properly without hurting her neck. "Well… yeah. You're not like the others. You're actually pretty open about all this stuff."

Dan gave a partial smile, but it wasn't from amusement. "I'm _open_ because I know what being _closed_ leads to. I was… _fortunate_ enough to learn the lesson before it happened to me. " He wanted to give a comparison to someone they both knew, someone who was going through a lot of heartache and unnecessary drama. But Dan knew to keep his mouth shut and instead answered Reyna's question. "Why did I never try anything with you? You look like the type to fall in love."

Reyna remained silent a moment; she contemplated feeling complimented, or offended. In the end she just found indifference to be the right reply. "Oh… really?"

Dan nodded. "You care, and that makes you dangerous."

Now Reyna was confused, what was Dan talking about? "What? Are you implying Kraya and Renata don't care? Care about what?"

Dan shook his head and shifted in his seat. "No no no… you're gettin' the wrong idea. Yeah they care, they care about their patients, they care about their lives. But they don't care about other people… not like you do."

Now she felt a little complimented and blushed slightly. "Really? You… you see that?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah, so as much fun as we'd have… I'm not going to risk it for… well, for just a little fun."

Reyna had often thought of Dan as the strongest of the Atlanteans in a way. He'd adjusted to life in Hoag's Object very quickly. Even more, he was very friendly and sociable with all the Travelers. Maybe he did drink a little too often, and maybe he was a little too…_amorous _at times, but now Reyna was seeing him in a different light.

Dan hadn't asked her because he was afraid she'd fall in love with him… or possibly the other way around. She let the matter slide for now, she'd just dredged up a huge nugget from the goldmine of his personality and anymore digging might strike a nerve. "So exactly why do you find this funny?"

She turned back to the TV where Tyrone Biggums was giving an elementary school class a lecture about drugs and about to break every rule of decency a speaker should have. _"And that was the first time I sucked a *BEEP* for drugs."_

Dan chuckled as he moved over to sit next to her. "God, I'm not gonna have to explain addiction to you, am I?"

Reyna gave him a sidelong glance, almost angry. "Don't make me schedule you for a physical. Carson has big fingers."

Pulling Reyna into a friendly one-armed hug, Dan pointed to the TV. "Aw, you don't wanna examine me?"

Reyna blushed and snickered. "When you're unconscious I can do whatever I want to you. Now quit stalling! What's so funny about a guy so addicted to drugs he has to give sexual favors to get it? That's not funny, that's sad!"

Dan bit back his laughter at Reyna's explanation. "I guess it's an Earth thing, but to us, the truth is a lot funnier than any joke."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "If we ever make it back to Earth I'm going to just stick to what I know. Norway."

Palming his forehead, Dan wished Daniel and Carson had never given Reyna those movies and books on Earth nations and their natural ecosystems.

* * *

"Ignore it."

Dan groaned softly as he felt Kraya's head on his shoulder. "If it were for you, would you ignore it?"

Kraya shifted under the sheets and pulled the pillow over her head to drown out the call of the radio. "This early? Yeah, I would. I'm not so essential they can't get by without me."

Now moving to sit up, Dan deadpanned. "That's the difference between you and me."

Kraya made some incomprehensible insult as the radio squawked. _"This is Vega to Drake, wake up DanMan."_

Dan picked up the radio and clicked it on. "Yeah, Vegabond?" He chuckled at his own little nickname for Alicia; she hadn't yelled at him yet so it was sticking for now.

_"Get to the conference room as soon as you can. Briefing."_

Dan rubbed his eye and nodded even though she couldn't see that. "Yeah copy… I'll be there in twen…" Looking back at Kraya who had curled up trying to sleep, Dan muttered. "_ten_ minutes."

Getting up to shower quickly, he wasn't surprised to hear Kraya's voice. "Have fun with your _girlfriend."_

Dan didn't dignify it with a response; he knew she'd leave once he was gone.


	40. Shattered Second Third

"You okay, Dan?"

Dan shrugged off Alicia's concern as he sat down; the rest of his team was already here and they all gave him curious glances. "I'm fine… just need coffee."

In front of them, Colonels Carter and Sheppard stood on one side of the projector screen with Larrin and Marks on the other end. They all looked worried, but less about him than about the mission. Alicia looked like she had more to say, but she kept quiet and nodded to Carter.

Sam nodded back and began the briefing. "Good morning. Two weeks ago you managed to procure an address that the Shade Creature the Olim had captured had dialed. Despite some grievances, we decided to wait until the diplomatic situation with the Olim was resolved before sending a probe through to investigate. Here's what we got back."

She clicked the projector screen and a video came on. It started as soon as it exited the stargate from the other end and began to pan around. Atmospheric readings appeared below. Sam freezed the frame and began to explain the darkened area around the stargate. "From this video, we can tell a few things right off the bat. For starters, this gate address actually puts this planet _inside_ the ring area of this galaxy."

John summed it up. "What she means is that dark area between the outer ring and the inner donut hole."

Larrin and Reyna both looked a little confused even though they understood it. Both Sam and Marks gave John their wry "_shut up'_ looks and John took the hint.

Dan was a little more curious though. "Sorry, but wasn't it pretty clear in the Ancient files we got from Outpost Zeta Twelve that there _weren't_ any gates in that area?"

Alicia turned to Dan and narrowed her eyes. It was a fair question that she wanted to ask as well, but she was going to wait.

Proving her point, Marks gruffly muttered. "We'll get to that Captain, just pay attention for now."

Dan quieted, but he didn't lose any of the defiance his face showed. Sam nodded and continued. "Good question, and that's part of the reason we're so interested in this planet. Our probe didn't detect any livable atmosphere there, in fact it was pretty much just a cloud of sulfur and hydrogen along with a dozen other elements floating around other than nitrogen or oxygen. It's curious why a stargate would be there. The probe was also able to give a quick reading of gravity and it's about an eighth of what a normal 1 Gee is."

John smiled, but remained silent.

Sam clicked the screen again and the video continued. "The probe had gone about 100 feet forward when this happened."

The screen showed the probe scanning almost merrily, its rounded hull and small ion propulsion system keeping it more than aloft in the low gravity environment. It had just rounded a curve when it suddenly jerked to the side as if hit, and within seconds the image had faded out into static and finally died.

Sam froze the image and reversed frame by frame. "On closer examination…" Frame by frame it moved, almost forty frames before a clear image showed up. Everyone in the room shifted a bit seeing clearly what attacked the probe. "…as you can see, the Shade are there. We can't see it fully here, but we think it's a class one or…" Sam tried to hide her distaste at the word, but it was still noticeable. "_…Sparky."_

Again John smiled, but he knew well enough to remain calm. "Carson's done some more examination, and Reyna here's done some testing of her own. Rey?"

To the team's slight surprise, Reyna sat up and got everyone's attention with her elegant voice. "Right, well, we've done a lot of testing on the pieces of the Shade creatures we've brought back, and we've discovered how they can detect energy around them. All energy gives off an electromagnetic field, whether it's a flashlight, an Ancestral Potentia, or even a person." She motioned to Sam who clicked the next slide; an image of a Shade Gremlin appeared on screen. "We've been able to deduce that the silicon exoskeleton of the Shade creature itself absorbs these signals. There is precedent for this, certain birds are affected by the electromagnetic field of a planet for instance."

Now it was Sam dumbing it down as she continued. "Right, but to put it simply, think of it almost like a radar. It picks up on the EMF…" Sam stopped, and dumbed it down further. "The electro magnetism everything gives off. The reason we can't pick them up on our own radar is because they're quite literally made of Radar Absorbing materials. It's going to be difficult to figure out how to get a good lock on them."

Dan began to tune out the briefing. It all amounted to the same thing: shoot 'em till they stop moving.

He didn't perk back up until Larrin stepped forward and smiled deviously. "… so because there's no atmosphere you can breath there, you're going to use space suits."

To his surprise, Rafaela perked up. "Wait! Do you mean those big white suits that you can hardly move in?"

Sam shook her head. "No no no… we still have those, but the Travelers have their own version which is much lighter and flexible" Sam screwed her face in thought. "Actually it's pretty ingenious, it's made of the same material they insulate their ships with. You'll be trying them on right after this briefing."

Larrin gave Sam a shit-eating grin. "Better than those giant marshmallows you call space suits."

Every Earth born person turned to Larrin, but it was John who spoke. "How the _hell_ do you know about marshmallows?"

* * *

"You alright, Dan?"

This was the third time she'd asked. Was his face that obvious? "Just tired." Dan shifted around as he got used to the thick fabric of the Traveler EVA suit. It was almost half an inch thick, but still flexible enough to retain some agility.

It was shockingly Spartan, almost like wearing a garbage bag, but a few hooks allowed him to carry his standard gear. The helmet section was similar to a hazmat suit in that it reached down to his chest to ensure an airtight fit, and instead of plexiglass, a flexible clear plastic was used in lieu of a visor.

A radio and small speaker was attached to the helmet as well for communication, but overall, it reminded Dan of that Olim bitch's armor during their fight in the jungle.

Standing on the balcony they'd come to to talk, Alicia flexed her arms over and over to get used to the opaque black material. "Well, that's kinda what I'm saying. Usually you're pretty attentive, did you even listen to the briefing?"

Now a little frustrated, Dan turned to Alicia and said through clenched teeth. "You wanna know? You really wanna know why I'm tired?"

Alicia could see that he wasn't in a good mood. She kept her body posture defiant though, and nodded softly. "If something's bugging you, I wanna know."

"What's buggin' me is _everything._ Why the fuck are we getting involved in all this Shade and Olim bullshit? Am I the only one who can see we're just gonna get fucked?"

Dan had said it matter of factly with an edge of resentment. Alicia couldn't really tell what was pissing him off so she dug a little deeper. "Well, the Shade are everywhere. And trading with the Olim gives us stuff we never could have had before."

Shaking his head, Dan stared back out towards the noon sky. "That's bullshit. I talked with Radek and Ella, as soon as they figure out all the Ancient mumbo jumbo in different labs, this place can survive completely on its own. We don't_ need_ anyone else, so why are we dickin' around with people we already _know_ are just gonna take the first chance they get to fuck us over?"

It was a fair question, and Alicia truthfully didn't have an answer. "I don't know what to tell you."

Dan bowed his head, and shoved all these resentments back down to where he'd kept them bottled up. "Exactly."

* * *

"I swear, if I come back chafing, I'm going to kill Larrin."

Dusty snickered at Rafaela's irritated mumbling through the built in radio in her helmet as they stood before the stargate. "_Please. _ You'd probably set up some elaborate revenge scheme and then call it off at the last minute."

Rafaela sighed dejectedly as her posture drooped. "I know."

The other three chuckled at Rafaela's hollow threat and comedic dejection. Behind them, Sheppard and Carter walked up and gave final instructions. "Remember, don't activate any electronic equipment until you need it. Those suits have enough oxygen for 12 hours and the insulation should keep you warm for most of that. Carson says that as long as you don't threaten anything, you should be just fine."

Sheppard shrugged. "Also try not to make yourselves look tastier than you already do."

It was a bad joke, but Dan still felt a little amused. "And I was just thinking of how worse my day could get."

Sheppard laughed even though no one else did. Sam simply restrained her irritation and continued. "At the first sign of trouble, come back. This is a recon only, so no risks, no combat. Your guns will work just fine in vacuum, but you'll feel more recoil than normal. It may even push you around like a thruster.."

Alicia nodded and tugged the seal on her helmet tight. "Got it. We'll be careful."

Reyna, off to the side, rubbed her hands together even through the suit and looked nervous. "I don't suppose we can take a Jumper?"

Rafaela turned and shook her head. "No, the energy signature would attract any Shade in the area. It'd be spray painting a bullseye on your butt and running around screaming '_hit me'_ at a National Spear throwing competition."

Everyone within earshot turned and stared at Rafaela. Instantly she shirked back and became incredibly embarrassed. To everyone's surprise, Sam was the one to speak first. "That's… an interesting metaphor." She then screwed her face in confusion. "Anyways, it shouldn't be a difficult mission. Just make sure to keep your electronics off until you need them and the Shade should ignore you. We have a great opportunity to learn about them and we shouldn't waste it."

With the Stargate now dialing, Dan turned and awaited the kawoosh. It came and went quickly, and Alicia led the way towards the event horizon. Dan turned to Rafaela, who was noticeably blushing under the clear flexible plastics of her helmet and said. "_Spear throwing _Competition?"

Dusty off to the side, snickered, and Rafaela couldn't believe she'd opened her mouth just to stick her foot inside.

* * *

"_WaaahhH! Help!"_

Dan's natural reaction was to laugh, but he fought it and instead gave a stifled snort as he gently pushed off the ground and caught the flailing Dusty as she now dropped from her shockingly high jump. "Careful there, Supergirl, remember gravity is one eighth around here."

The planet was strange. There were rock outcroppings everywhere, dark tunnels that may or may not have led anywhere, and throughout it all, the strangest thing was the stars themselves. A tight band of the stars around them only just crested the horizon, but only a few odd dots of light were up in the sky despite the lack of light pollution. It was oddly disconcerting.

The dull blue rock around them was powdered in a bluish white substance that covered their boots, and Dan couldn't help but feel very, very intimidated by this place.

As they landed, Dusty panted and carefully placed her feet on the floor. "_That… was… fucked._"

Ahead of them in the barely lit area, Alicia waved them forward. "Come on! That's enough playing around. Just be careful how you…"

Before she could finish, Reyna cried out as she suddenly went horizontal and fell face first onto the floor with comedic slowness. "Ah! Dammit!"

Dan was about to slap his forehead when he realized that so doing would likely send him flying. He very gingerly stepped forward in a strange bunny hop reminiscent of astronaut videos he'd seen. "Look, just push with the ball of your foot and you'll move pretty fast."

Rafaela tried it, and instantly jumped up almost six feet in the air _"Ohmigod ohmigod!! I hate flying! Ohmigod ohmigod!"_

Dan turned to look at Alicia and saw her shaking her head dejectedly. But then he noticed something behind her and raised his weapon. "Everyone! Stay still!"

Alicia realized what was behind her and fingered her rifle. "Dan…"

Thankfully, the suits were so well insulated that sound didn't escape from them and all the communication was being done by radio. Everyone remained still. Rafaela balanced herself out as she landed and held like a statue, Dusty had her rifle at the ready but not raised, Reyna remained face down on the floor just staring at the Shade creature that now walked amongst them.

It was large, about the size of an elephant. It walked along on four large legs that looked razor sharp, but while it seemed curious, it didn't seem hostile.

It slipped past them, heading towards the still warm stargate. Silently it extended out one arm that split open into a pincer and latched onto the ring itself.

The stargate quickly cooled off, the little particulate matter that was attached to it freezing as the heat was absorbed into the Shade. Nobody said anything as they watched it now let go, and silently move off into the dark space around them.

Silently getting up, Reyna finally mused. "Looks like Carson was right: as long as we don't threaten them, there shouldn't be a problem with us walking around."

Dan wasn't so sure, the insulation of their suits kept the warmth of their bodies inside, but he couldn't help but remember Morpheus with that battery. Something told him the Shade were more dangerous than Carson was thinking and he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

* * *

It had been almost an hour and a half, and finally the team had gotten used to walking around in an eighth gravity. Now Dusty was actually having fun doing somersaults and backflips when Alicia wasn't looking, and both Reyna and Rafaela had taken the plunge and given it a try. It hadn't worked quite so well for them.

Dan simply wondered when things were gonna get fucked up. Here he was, standing on the strangest planet he'd ever seen. The probe had only picked up the area around the stargate, but as soon as they moved a bit off, they realized it had only scratched the surface.

The planet was almost like a honeycomb; dozens of catacombs and pits and winding sections of what looked like tunnel made up the interior of the planet. Dan had taken the risk and used the passive scanner of his hand held Doppler radar and gotten a good slice of the planets structure. It was hollowed out.

He'd shown the picture that came up to Alicia and she'd mentioned that it looked almost like a ball of twisted rope.

Rafaela had just taken a small core sample of the rock they were standing on, and she was using a low wattage version of a scanner to detect what was in it.

It took forever, but eventually she reported her findings to the rest of the team as they huddled together. "The main component of the material is actually naquadah. If this sample is indicative of the entire planet, we're talking millions if not billions of tons of it."

Reyna grumbled softly. "Well, that makes sense actually, we've seen the Shade ingest naquadah like food and use it for propulsion. I've got a theory as to what this planet is."

Seeing that she wasn't going to actually continue, Alicia sighed. "Which is?"

Reyna looked around and then deadpanned. "A nursery."

Alicia made a curious noise in her throat. "What? How'd you get _that_ idea?"

Looking around, Reyna pointed. "Look, there really aren't that many big Shade around, but with this much material they use, it's only natural they'd want to keep their young here."

Still Dusty was confused. "What? You're not making any sense."

Reyna groaned softly and hten muttered. "Have you seen your little friend from the Olim colony? I'm betting he's all wrapped up and being taken care of, Why else would it come here?"

Everyone looked around and realized just how strange a place this must have been. Dusty audibly gulped and began to check their surroundings. "Uhh, correct me if I'm wrong. But isn't there some kind of family instinct to _protect_ the kids in most animals? Like… they'd rather _die fighting_ than let them get hurt?"

Dan watched in the distance, as the shadows seemed to move within the darkness of the area. Very rarely was he ever scared, but this place more than did it for him. He questioned why the others apart from Dusty weren't worried.

Maybe Alicia was, but both Rafaela and Reyna looked almost like kids in a candy store. Couldn't they feel that something was wrong with this place? "I agree; we shouldn't be here."

Alicia looked at both groups. She hated having to be like a mother sometimes. It took her a few seconds of thinking, but then she decided. "We'll see if we can find a 'nursery' place, but we won't risk getting too close." She looked at Dan who wasn't too pleased. "Once we do that, then we'll go home. We can always come back later."

Dan again bit his tongue. This was getting frustrating, but this is what he'd signed onto so many years ago, and he wasn't about to disobey reasonable orders.


	41. Shattered Third Third

"Look at that… what's it doing?"

Crouched behind a handy rock, Alicia pulled her binoculars from her vest and zoomed in. "It's… picking at itself."

Dan pulled out his own as did the rest of the team. It had gotten a little colder as the heat from his body began to leave the highly insulated suit. Larrin had said something about it being the same material they insulated their ships with and Carter had mentioned R-90 something or other. Whatever it was, the frozen wasteland around him was actually quite comfortable in this suit.

That being said, the heat was still escaping.

Alicia cursed softly, and then crouched with her back to the rock. She silently pulled a scope out of her vest and quickly attached it to her rifle. Dan instantly became guarded, and he pulled away looking back to where the Shade had pulled something off its belly.

"What?"

Dan turned and saw Alicia facing him, her sniper rifle was ready now and she moved to get a better view with the stronger scope. He'd always hated that thing. "Nothing."

Alicia didn't buy that, something was really bugging Dan, but now wasn't the time to talk about this stuff. She extended her rifle's bipod and zoomed in with the powerful scope. "Hmmm… it's pulling something out. Looks kinda like a crystal."

Reyna watched through her binoculars as well and made an intrigued sound. "Look, it's burying it."

Dan pulled his own binoculars to his face and watched. The Shade indeed had just driven one of its arms into the ground, then it dropped the smaller crystal in. He watched as it did it another five times before stopping and moving off. "The fuck is it doing? Laying…" He froze, and suddenly realized that his sarcasm had paid off. "_Shit! Eggs!_"

Reyna turned to look at him and shrugged. "Probably, but I don't get how they'd be able to hatch under all that."

"Whoa whoa whoa…! Big thing in the sky!"

The group crouched further to hide in the shadows as they looked up to where Rafaela had pointed. A large cigar shaped creature hovered above them, seemingly oblivious. Alicia's breathing increased, Dusty began to look around as if on guard, but Reyna seemed fascinated. "It's a Schoolbus."

Everyone turned to look to her, and it took a second to recall. Dan shook his head and shuddered. "_Eugh, _Damn Chuck."

Nobody replied; they were all fixated on the creature towering above them. Alicia finally spoke as she began to move away. "I think we've overstayed our welcome. I don't wanna be around if that thing decides we're an appetizer."

Dusty instantly nodded. "Agreed, let's get the fuck outta here."

Dan looked up at the _Schoolbus; _it was out of throwing range… for a regular gravity environment. "I could blow it up." Dan opened his vest, exposing the bandolier of C4 charges.

Alicia gave him a dumbfounded look. "Where'd you get that?"

Shrugging, Dan replied. "Laura gave it to me. Said if she couldn't use it, I might as well."

Curious, Dusty leaned in and saw it. She instantly hit a high note of surprise. "_Are Baap Re! _ The hell are you? A suicide bomber?!"

Playing up the moment, Dan deadpanned. "Well, you're half right."

Rafaela was dumbstruck; she spoke in shock. "Which half!?"

Before anyone else could input, the _Schoolbus_ above them began to whine loudly. A large cylindrical object came out from beneath it, and it pointed right at the area where the four legged Shade had implanted the 'eggs'.

The cylinder began to glow, and before their eyes, a wide beam of what looked like heatwaves began to emit from it; it showered down around the area, and Rafaela pulled out his scanner. "It… it's heating it up! It's using some kind of heat ray to heat up the minerals of the ground itself!"

Alicia didn't care anymore. Freezing was bad, she didn't like the cold anymore than any other Spanish person, but getting melted was something she had no problem avoiding. "Time to go!"

Rafaela may have wanted to stay and watch, but even she agreed. As a group, they all silently began to slink away. Reyna began to muse to herself over the radio. "It makes sense. I get it now!"

Dusty turned and motioned with her head. "You get what?"

Reyna carefully hopped ahead, the rest of the team moving at a brisk pace back towards the stargate. "This place, this whole planet, it's what they feed off! The heat is to keep the creature warm and also liquefy the Naquadah! They're crystalline based, remember? That's why they get buried, so they can feed and grow!"

Dan didn't get it that well. He was sure she'd write up a whole report and give him the details with girlish glee, right now he was more…

The ground suddenly began to quake under them, and everyone lost their footing as they were literally flung off the ground. "_Fuck!"_

Dan lost all sense of direction. He recalled something about magnetic boots being unavailable and useless anyway, except now he'd kill for a pair!

He managed to orient himself and realized that the entire ground beneath them had split open in an expanding chasm. No sound was heard from the heavy insulation of the suit. His team was screaming through the radio though, some in fear, others in anger. Dan couldn't see any of them but he focused on what he did know, he was falling, and slowly picking up speed.

He let go of his rifle and let it hang by the straps, Dan would need his hands on impact if he wanted to stay relatively unscathed.

The ground was now coming at him fast, Dan hoped to hell that this flexible black space suit would hold up well against impact.

Dan rolled the instant he hit the ground, he'd hit hard and the pain in his shoulders ached as they moved over surprisingly warm rock.

He tumbled and fell down into yet another chasm, this one not as deep, but he could feel the loose stones and pebbles scratching at his suit. He'd be bruised for sure, but his biggest concern was for the others.

When he finally stopped, he was face down in the pure dark, he couldn't see the hand in front of his face, let alone where the hell he was.

_"Anyone? Someone? Anyone hear me?"_

It was Rafaela, she must have been pretty close for the radio to work through all the rock likely around them. Dan got to his knees, stretched a bit to shake off the pain, then spoke. "Yeah… I gotcha, Ella, you okay?"

_"Umm… not really… I think I fell down pretty deep. I can't see anything."_

Interrupting, Alicia called out. "_Use your glowsticks, it won't give off as big an electrowhatsit as flashlights. Try and find each other."_

Dan cracked open one of his glow sticks, shook it, and attached it to one of his sleeves with the little rope that came with it. It took a few seconds to fully light up, but he quickly backpedaled realizing that he was on the edge of an even greater fall. "Holy!"

_"Dan! What's wrong? Are you alright?"_

Dan used his hand like a flashlight with the glowstick, it only gave off enough light to see but not in detail. In the distance, maybe fifty feet away he spotted another light blue light emanating. "Yeah… just a little fucked up… Who is that?" He began to wave his hand, using the glowstick as a signal.

_"It's me, Reyna."_ The glowstick off and away began to swing back and forth. "_I'm okay, just a little dusty."_

_"Hey! I am _not_ little!"_

Dan rolled his eyes. "Least everyone's okay. Any ideas?"

A few seconds passed, and Dan looked around. His eyes had gotten used to the extreme dark and the little bits of light from the now three glowsticks he could see around him was enough to see what had happened.

The earth had split in a giant rend, the light wasn't reaching deep enough to see the bottom, that is if he even could.

As he moved forward, taking care to make sure the ground was solid, another light appeared almost right in front of him.

He could make it out; it was Rafaela from the frantic waving of the glowstick and her cried. "_Hey! Over here! See me!?"_

Dan checked his eyeroll; this wasn't a good situation. "Yeah, yeah… I'm coming."

Everyone was visible now, and they all moved towards one end of the great tear in order to climb up. Dan was just about to reach Rafaela when she began to muse to herself. "_Oh wow, there's something in the rock here… what the…?"_

The light from ahead of Dan began to flicker, almost as if something was blocking it. Rafaela gave a loud grunt and then went silent, the light that denoted where she was suddenly moved off, now falling down even deeper.

Dan realized something had happened to her, and he rushed forward with his rifle now swinging into action. "Rafaela? _Ella!?"_

Alicia's voice came up. "_The fuck!? They're coming out of the walls! Get back to the gate now!"_

Dan wasn't ready to give up on Rafaela, she was still sliding down the sloped rock, Dan wasn't sure if she was alive or dead but leaving her behind was _not_ an option. "Ella's down! I'm going after her!"

Nobody said anything, but the three lights ahead began to coalesce, maybe forty or fifty feet away.

Dan looked down to where Rafaela's glow stick still shined, she'd fallen god knew how far, but she'd stopped, probably hit the bottom. In this light gravity though, she'd likely survived… if she was alive to start with.

Finally Alicia's voice came in as he peered out over the edge. _"Dan, we don't have any rope, how are you gonna get back up here?"_

Dan scoffed softly and then looked at his rifle, he had an extra four clips, would it be enough? "Oh don't worry about that. Just gimme five, and get ready to run." Dan took a few deeper breaths and then muttered to himself. _"Nobody lives forever anyway."_

He heard Alicia's voice as he stepped off the edge, aiming his jump so he could slide down the rockface without hurting himself…much. _"Dan! Shit!"_

Dan didn't hear anymore as he slid down, scraping up his uniform as he broke the odd loose rocks on his fall.

In the light gravity, he was able to control his drop by using his hands to hold onto the wall behind him, only a little more…

The floor hit him a lot harder than it did before. He felt his legs crumple under him as he rolled now that he was close to Rafaela. He cursed from the pain, but Dan held it together.

Looking up, he guessed it was maybe a hundred feet to the top of the fissure, but even worse, there was an even deeper crack in the floor nearby. The low level of light didn't give him enough to see exactly, but he saw Rafaela shifting on the floor ahead of him. "Ella!"

Crouching by her, he could see that she was still alive, injured, but alive. Dan pulled her up to a sitting position and cleared away the dirt from the flexible clear plastic of her helmet. She mused softly. _"Dan?"_

"Yeah… yeah, it's me."

Rafaela groaned and wrapped her arms around herself. "I think I messed up… I saw something in the rocks and… and I used the scanner."

Dan sighed, it was likely she was right, and the electronic signal had woken up the Shade, but now wasn't the time for recriminations. He decided to be a little more understanding. "What'd you find?"

Rafaela shifted around again and pulled it out. "Here… see for yourself."

Dan grabbed the scanner, and examined the information it had picked up. It had been a deep scan that penetrated into the rock of the planet itself. It was a small planet, approximately a thousand miles in diameter, but it was hollowed out and…

Staring in disbelief at the scanner, Dan realized just what position he was in. It was crazy, it was ludicrous, but circumstances had played out to the degree that he might actually have a chance to do something he'd never imagined he could ever do.

Taking off his vest of C4 charges, Dan prepared to try and get back to the surface. "Ella, can you stand?"

She shook her head and keeled over. "I hit my head… dizzy… can't see straight, feel like I'm gonna puke…"

Dan sighed; Rafaela probably had a concussion. He was glad that these space suits were completely flexible, something he hadn't expected.

But then again, nobody would be expecting what was about to happen, least of all the Shade sons of bitches who were about to die.

* * *

"Rey, go dial the gate. We'll wait another three minutes and then we'll go."

Reyna didn't look happy, but she did as she was ordered, Alicia peered down where she could barely make out a little blue dot at the bottom of the chasm. Dusty muttered as she looked around at the edge of the hole. "This place is fucked, why the hell did this thing open up like that?"

Alicia shrugged. "Beats me, but we can't wait much longer. I hope Dan and Ella are alright… if anyone can get outta that hole it's him."

Dusty scoffed softly. "And to think, he's a master of getting _into_ holes."

Alicia shuddered at the bad joke, but before she could say anything else, a strobe flash below where the blue light was coming from told her that Dan was coming up. "What the…? He's shooting!"

Peering over the edge, Dusty caught on. "Oh! He's using his gun like a jetpack! Sweet!"

Alicia growled softly. "Every last Shade's gonna be on our asses, let's just hope Reyna can dial quick enough."

* * *

Chuck smiled as he sat watching the Merrie Melodies episode"Falling Hare" one of the few episodes that show Bugs Bunny with a true effective rival. The Gremlin was nailing a bomb with a hammer, drawing Bug's attention since he was lying on top of it. "Uhmm mmm… What's all the hubbub, bub?"

The Gremlin turned and looked to Bugs. "These blockbuster bombs don't go off unless you hit them _just right."_

Bugs became irritated, and watched as the Gremlin continued to pound the top of the twelve thousand pound bomb with a giant mallet. Bugs then stopped him by grabbing the mallet, obviously trying to show up the Gremlin who had as of yet failed to activate the bomb "Hey mack, let me take a whack at it."

The Gremlin was then pushed aside almost carelessly, Bugs now spitting on his hands to get a great grip on the mallet. He spun around, twisting his body to deliver the most mighty whack he'd ever given.

Just as Bugs spun around and was inches from the bomb, he stopped suddenly before striking the bomb and screamed in aghast shock. _"WHAT AM I DOING!?"_

Surprising Chuck as he snickered, the stargate suddenly began to spin and give off a violet hue of an incoming wormhole. It quickly splashed open and the shield went up when he heard Reyna's voice. _"Chuck, it's us! Drop the shield, drop the shield!" _

Chuck didn't hear anything behind her, but he didn't hesitate. "Shield down! Come on through!" Chuck then tapped the local radio frequency to Carter's office. _"Colonel! We need you in here!"_

* * *

Sheppard looked at the information on the scanner, and then back up at Dan. "Holy shit, you blew up the planet!"

Dan was still in shock, he hadn't expected it to actually work, but every attempt to dial the planet kept failing. "Chance of a lifetime."

The conference room was silent besides the single voice at a time. Nobody could believe what had happened. Carter rubbed her face and looked at Dan again. "I understand why you did what you did, but you could have told Major Vega or us about it before detonating it. That much Naquadah could have come in very useful."

Dan shook his head. "You guys didn't see it. There were dozens, hundreds, probably thousands all over the planet. That entire rock could have eventually become a Shade. I saw the chance to put some serious hurt to the enemy and I took it."

Both Sheppard and Carter looked to each other for a moment, Sheppard turning away and speaking softly. "As much as I may agree with you, or maybe even supported it, hell I probably would have given the order to do it. But that's just it, you took the matter into your own hands and took the rest of us completely out of the loop."

Dan shrugged. "I only did it because we wouldn't have gotten another chance. The vein of Naquadah was in a unique position, I'd guess it had a fifty/fifty chance of working." Dan scoffed softly. "Guess I beat the odds."

Before Sheppard could continue reprimanding him, Carter broke in. "Captain, you're dismissed… go see your team." Sheppard gave her an incredulous look, but Dan could see that he'd won the issue.

He didn't look back, but he could already tell those two were about to have a nice screaming match. It was times like these Dan was happy he wasn't involved with anyone he worked directly with; no easier way to get into an argument.

* * *

"Oh no, John and Carter might have let you off easy, but you're not fuckin' blowin' me off that easily!"

Dan shook his head and rolled his eyes as he walked down the hallway to the infirmary. "Oh really? And exactly what do _you_ want, Vegabond?"

Alicia didn't smile, she didn't snark back, hell, she was expressionless beyond the tightness of her facial features. Dan had come to realize that meant she was pissed. "You _should_ have told me. All it would have taken is five seconds."

Dan tried to move past her, but she blocked his way. "I'm going to see Ella, get out of my way."

She didn't, and defiantly she blocked his every effort to get past. "No, you're gonna have to kick my ass if you wanna get past me. So you might as well tell me what's up your ass so I can trust you again."

Dan could see that he really was going to have to hurt her if he wanted to get through, so he decided to give her the cold truth. "What's up my ass? Do you have any idea about the properties of Naquadah and Composition Four? How fucking perfect an explosion has to be contained to create enough heat and pressure to detonate raw Naquadah? You say it would have taken five seconds, _wrong._ I could have said _'I can blow up the planet!'_ and you woulda looked at me like I was crazy. That's if you could even hear me over the gunfire." Dan was almost yelling now. Dammit, this was _not_ how he expected today to end up.

Alicia narrowed her eyes and faces off. "You still should have said something instead of just blowing it up. You could have even explained it here and _then_ blown it up."

Dan shook his head. "You don't get it. Why do you think Carter let me off so easily? She knows, this was a once in a lifetime chance. That Naquadah was connected to the main vein of it that ran through the entire fucking core of that planet. Do you realize how unusual that is?" Dan could see that Alicia didn't know what he was talking about, what was instinct for him was beyond Alicia's realm of knowledge. "That's right. You don't. And there wasn't time to have a discussion. I stand by what I did and you can yell and scream all you want, you woulda done the same."

Now Dan brushed past Alicia, but her angry tone made him stop and turn. _"Don't you ever talk to me like that. I'm still your commanding officer and if you want a place on this team you will respect my authority. If you ever do something like this again, I swear I'm going to make you wish you'd never come to this galaxy."_

Dan realized that she was serious, and that as right as he knew he was, there was room for a little diplomacy. He turned his head to face her and nodded gently. "_Yes… Ma-am."_

Continuing his walk into the infirmary, Alicia again called out. "Dan!"

He didn't turn this time, instead all he could think of was how women kept pestering him. "_What!?"_

He didn't see her face, but he could hear in her tone a softening. "Thanks for going back to Ella, Doc says she'll be okay."

After getting reamed, Dan was in no mood for anyone's gratitude. So he simply remained silent as he entered the room.

Reyna was inside along with Carson, both guiding and supervising the other medics in the room as Traveler and refugee patients came in. He couldn't help but notice quite a few women who didn't look sick at all. Probably just doing check ups.

He didn't ask whether he was allowed to or not, and within moments, Dan was at Rafaela's infirmary bed, where she was laying on her side underneath the sheets with a comical bandage on her head. "Hey, Ella."

She turned slightly and moaned. "Hey… Dan." She winced, obviously her head still hurt a lot. "Heard you went Rambo." She snickered softly. "Saw the map… pretty crazy that we landed right there."

Rafaela understood. The tear in the planet's crust that had opened up had exposed the main vein of Naquadah, if that heavy charge had been placed anywhere else, it wouldn't have worked. "Yeah well… no good deed goes unpunished."

Rafaela sighed as she shifted around in the bed. "What's wrong? Come on Dan, we can all see it."

It was true, Dan couldn't hide it and now, after so much bullshit, maybe someone had the right to know. "You uhh… you learn anything about Traveler culture?"

Rafaela shrugged around. "A little, but what does…?"

Interrupting her, Dan pulled a nearby chair closer and sat down. "Whenever a Traveler's hurt, their friends will take turns watching… and they'll also give up a secret so… so that the other person knows that they trust them."

Rafaela furrowed her brow. "Uhh… okay.. it's just a concussion. Couple of days and I'll be just fine."

Dan scoffed softly, and braced himself for what he was about to tell her. "Yeah… yeah I know. But this is killin' me and I gotta tell someone and… well this is a good enough excuse." Rafaela remained silent, now simply lying there watching as Dan slowly put his thoughts into words. "How much do you know about the Bosnian Wars?"

Rafaela shook her head. "I just remember Clinton talking about Kosovo."

Dan shook his head in reply. "No no no… not the Kosovo War, the Serbian war, mid eighties to early mid nineties." Seeing that she knew nothing, Dan summed it up. "Well… not many people remember. Most people think it was just a bunch of farmers with AK's stirring up trouble but… today's a sort of anniversary."

Rafaela spoke softly, making sure no one heard. "Did you fight in that war?"

Dan again shook his head. "Nope, wasn't even there. I was only a kid when it happened, thirteen, fourteen years old." He sighed and bowed his head. "There was a place, in Sarajevo the capital city. That's where I used to live when I was just a runt. My parents sent me to live with my cousins when I was around nine or ten."

Already Rafaela could see this was going to be a sad story, and she reached out with a hand to take his. "Your parents… They…?" She didn't finish the question, the implication was enough.

Dan let her take his hand, it was a pretty obvious end to the story, but the specifics were what bothered him. "Yeah… yeah. That place? It was the main road… one of the only ways to get to the market to buy food…" he froze for a second and squeezed Rafaela's hand softly. "…they called that road "Sniper Alley', no one was safe, bastards even shot at civilians."

Rafaela gulped, and she realized where some of his anger must have come from. "I'm sorry, Dan."

Dan used his thumb to rub Rafaela's wrist. No matter what sort of contact it was, being with a woman always made him feel a little better. "Yeah…. Yeah me too."

Seeing that Dan had been repressing that all day, and now, even after venting it against an entire planet worth of Shade, he was still bothered, Rafaela tugged on his hand. "Hey, stay for a bit. Chuck copied some Bugs Bunny cartoons to my tablet and I wanted someone to hook it up to the TV."

Dan snickered, it was a ludicrous suggestion, but the way he was feeling, maybe a little wholesome laughs and wholesome company for a change would help. "You know what? Sure."

* * *

"As near as I can tell, the Shade reproduce by laying small egg like creatures into the mineral rich ground, they then heat it up in order to promote growth, and the egg grows in a crystalline way. It takes on the properties of the elements around it and eventually, it burrows its way out."

Sam rubbed her chin, this was certainly a new development and she didn't know exactly what to do. "Do you have any idea why the ground tore up like that?"

Reyna shrugged as she stood in front of Sam's desk. John sat on the sofa nearby in his workout gear, still not having had a chance to change from being called up from his training class. "As near as I can tell, it was either one of two things: it was the Shade inside the ground itself burrowing out _en masse_, or they were preparing to put something _really_ big inside."

John growled softly in his throat. "Those big ass Shade gotta come from somewhere. I guess now we know what they want with all that Naquadah and other minerals."

Sam pumped her fist a few times, then sighed and nodded. "Thank you Reyna, I assume you're going to write a report?"

Reyna nodded in reply. "Of course, Carson wants to know as well and we'll see what we can come up with together. We'll get to you as soon as we know anything for sure."

John gave Reyna a soft nod of his head as she walked away. Now alone with Sam in her office, they could begin what they had agreed to hold off on for a few moments. "This is bad."

Sam nodded and sighed. "_Really_ bad."

John narrowed his eyes. "_Really_ bad? You know something I don't?"

Turning to him, Sam bit her lip before speaking. "This doesn't even come _close_ to amounts of materials we've seen the Shade take. Dan thinks he did good taking out that one planet… I'm guessing there're hundreds, maybe even thousands if the Shade have been doing this for long enough."

Realizing just how insane that sounded, John gulped in honest anxiety. "You mean…?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know what I mean. We just don't have enough information. But I can tell you this, given the information they brought back, and just doing the numbers in my head. Even that one star Marks saw the Shade mine could give them enough materials and heat to create dozens of those planets… if not hundreds."

It was a terrifying prospect, and John now realized why Sam had let Drake off so easily about it. It was a futile effort to fight the Shade in direct combat. There were just too many of them.

* * *

"More food? Is it at least_ good_ this time?"

Chuck snickered to himself. "Actually yeah. Guess that Chocolate we gave them a few weeks back did the trick."

Laura rolled her eyes and began to open the crate the first Traveler tech team had brought into the cooled warehouse. "Well, better late then never. If I had to spend another night with you after eating chili…"

Chuck scoffed as he waved in the next crate. "Oh please, that night you had that strange cheese, I had to open the door to the balcony!"

Laura smacked Chuck on the arm in retaliation. "_Chuck!"_

Shrugging off the attack, Chuck snuck in around Laura and wrapped his arms around her waist. "_Laura…"_

Seeing that he was trying _(and mostly succeeding)_ to be suave, Laura smiled at him. "I do not fart. I burp, hell, I might even belch, but I do _not _fart."

Chuck shrugged. "Whatever you say, Boom Boom." Looking at Laura dead in the eyes, Chuck said with all the confidence in the world. "Gimme a kiss."

Laura snickered softly, and had that sort of love/hate moment about Chuck's ability to have no shame over public displays of affection. "_Chuuuuck."_

"Come on. Kiss me and I'll tell you something good."

Shaking her head idly, Laura leaned over and gave him a nice moist one on the lips. His smile was infectious. "You're cute when you're begging for sex."

Chuck rolled his eyes and motioned with his head. "Who's begging? Now I'm not so sure I _wanna_ tell you what I've got planned."

Pulling away, Chuck found his belt was holding him back. Laura wasn't ashamed of their relationship either and even worse, she wasn't afraid to humiliate him with a wedgie in front of the already snickering Traveler work crew. "Don't make me hurt you, Chuck. And I can promise I won't kiss it better."

Chuck smirked, and kept his voice low. "Oh… well then maybe I should tell you to hurry up here, cuz I talked Carter and Sheppard into giving us tomorrow off… and Teyla knows about some hot springs on the mainland."

Laura's eyebrows perked up. "Hot springs? Hot-_damn!_ Knew there was a reason I liked you."

Tempting fate, Chuck rubbed his hands together and wore his devious grin. "Oh you mean that little thing you like when I use my…"

Laura's elbow didn't let Chuck finish that sentence.

* * *

**Teaser for Episode 18 – Just Business**

**Aleron:** _You!_

**Chuck: **Moi?

**Aleron: **You're the one who introduced the Beta Telamite colony to that fiendish plant!"

**Drake:** Dude, you got herb? Damn bra, spread dat wealth!

**Cadman:** I think he means the cocoa beans we gave them, Dan.

**Aleron:** Herb? I would sooner call it weed.

**Chuck:** Okay, somewhere out there, someone just died laughing.


	42. Just Business First Quarter

**Episode 18 – Just Business (1/4)**

_264 days in Hoag's Object_

* * *

**A/N:** So at the behest of my beautiful Beta **Neela**, as well as the evil machinations of **IceMenace** who would whomp my ass mercilessly with a grammar book had she the chance, here's a lexicon of terms used.

**Proconsul** = Governor/Senator

**Praetor** = Prime Minister/President

**Primus Locagos** = First Captain, Equivalent to a Marine Captain.

**Syntarchis** = Centurion Colonel, Equivalent to Air Force Colonel.

**Legate **= General, in Olim Terms, military head of houses, typically a Proconsul as well.

These are either direct, or similar to Ancient Greek and Roman military rank structures. For future reference with the Olim, their language is a mix of Latin, Greek, as well as some Etruscan. The stargate translation dealy handles it :P

Also, as a treat for non-Gateworld fans. At the bottom of this chapter are several links to wallpapers from various fans and yours truly.

So without further adieu, **Just Business.**

* * *

**Aleron Centaurus:** _You!_

**Chuck Campbell: **Moi?

**Aleron Centaurus: **You're the one who introduced the Beta Telamite colony to that fiendish plant!"

**Dan Drake:** Dude, you got herb? Damn bra, spread dat wealth!

**Laura Cadman:** I think he means the cocoa beans we gave them, Dan.

**Aleron Centaurus:** Herb? I would sooner call it weed.

**Chuck Campbell:** Okay, somewhere out there, someone just died laughing.

* * *

Sitting together in the control room, Laura poked Chuck and pointed across the room to near the balcony in the gateroom. "Do those two think we don't know?"

Chuck shrugged. "Carter's a really private person, I don't think she talks to anyone but Daniel, Sheppard, Larrin and Marks."

Laura used the back of her hand to smack Chuck's shoulder. "And _you_. Don't forget that. I've seen her talking to _you_."

Chuck rolled his eyes and turned back to his console. "_Everyone_ talks to me, _except_ Marks. I dunno why he's so uptight."

Looking at the balcony across from the control room where John and Sam were having what looked like an intimate little talk, Laura sighed and got back to her inventory logging. "Maybe it's because he's not fun. It's like you're matter, and he's anti-matter."

Chuck turned his head slowly to Laura incredulously. "Have you been watching my Voyager DVDs?"

Laughing, Laura shook her head. "God no; you forget? High temperature and reactive materials expert? Anti-matter rocks, nothing makes a bigger bang for yer buck."

Chuck shuddered softly. He would have made a dirty joke, but in this public, Laura was likely to wring his neck or worse, give him an atomic wedgie. "Okay, okay… enough blowing up the universe. You finished there?"

Laura gave an even more emphatic groan. "No… I hate this. I love it when everything works out, but this just doesn't want to add up."

Having little if anything to do beyond putting the final touches on the "Razor" modification to his 302 design that Sam had asked for, Chuck leaned over and motioned towards him. "Here, fresh eyes might do it some good."

Sighing, Laura handed over her tablet. "It's weird. Like we're getting more food than we should be getting, but at the same time, we're not getting as much raw materials like Trinium or even…"

Interrupting her, Nevas's voice came in over the console communication terminal. _"This is Nevas, Chuck you there?"_

Chuck tapped the console and replied. "Yeah, I'm here Nevas. It's almost like I never leave."

_"Hah, tell me about it. Anyways, is Larrin up there?"_

Taking a look around, Chuck couldn't see her around anywhere. "Uhhh nope, not here, haven't seen her in a few days actually."

Nevas's voice remained its typical playful, but an edge of seriousness could be heard. "_Yeah, yeah… I haven't seen her either. Strange huh? Well is Carter or Sheppard up there?"_

Looking up, Chuck just barely caught John sneak a little kiss to Sam's cheek as they parted ways. He struggled not to laugh. "_Yeah…. _You could say that."

Giving him a playful shove, Laura mused. "Don't make fun. Sheppard'll kill you, and that'll be a sweet mercy compared to what Carter'll do to you."

Realizing she was right, Chuck shut up about it as Nevas spoke. "_Alright, I'll be up there soon."_

Chuck made an indecisive noise, then got back to the tablet. Something was off and it looked… _strange._

* * *

"Hey, Shep, how's it goin'?"

John turned from his position at the control room console where he was setting up training sessions for the Travelers who'd undergone USAF training. Dan had mentioned something about '_Marine'_ training being better for combat and security, so John was trying to work out a system to get them cross-trained. Truthfully though it wasn't as if they didn't have their own tactics and ways, but the Travelers had a much more loose system of policing nowhere near solid enough to handle several thousand people. "Hey."

Nevas moved forward and sat down across from him. "Busy?"

John nodded, but he set the tablet down. "Nothing that can't wait. What's up?"

Shrugging around, Nevas smiled his typical aloof smile. "Well, I kinda got a favor to ask." John raised an eyebrow. "I was hoping I could get the day off tomorrow. Finally got Rey to say yes and we're going to the mainland."

John raised an eyebrow. "Rey? As in _Reyna?"_

Nevas nodded. "I know it's just out of pity, but this means I win a bet with some of the other guys and I was hoping to get it out of the way quickly."

A little incredulous, John rubbed his forehead. "Wait… you mean you _actually_ made a bet that you could get a date with Reyna knowing full well the only way you could get it was out of pity?"

Again, Nevas shrugged. "I know I'm too old for her. With the body she's got she can have anyone she wants, I know…" Seeing John's surprised expression, Nevas quickly added. "Well, it's not like I wouldn't if I got the chance, but I'm not so deluded as to think this means anything." Seeing that John still had a dumbfounded face, Nevas simply continued. "Anyways, I know you wanted me there to help my guys get used to this whole policing thing, but…"

Finally John recovered from the shock. "One condition." He raised a finger just to emphasize it. "I get a cut of the take."

Nevas chuckled and nodded. "Always a pleasure doing business with you."

As the two men chuckled, Chuck came up from behind with a curious expression on his face. "Uhhh, Sheppard?"

John leaned over and nodded. "Is there a line back there?"

Snorting softly, Chuck shook his head. "No, no… just uhh… I noticed something odd in the latest shipment from the Olim and uhh…" He looked around and saw several other people, technicians, guards, though Laura had walked off; gone to see Carter about an idea she had. "Can we talk in private?"

Curious, John furrowed his brow and nodded. "Yeah… yeah." Quietly, John began to wonder exactly what Chuck had found… and how many people he'd told it to.

* * *

"A credit system?"

Laura nodded as she stood on the balcony. Fresh air was always great, and not being out of breath from walking up stairs was never more appreciated. "I think it's the best way. The Travelers and Settlers have been pretty much working on their own. Teyla's settlement is the only one where they're working together. With a credit system for items and stuff we can manufacture or trade for, we ensure that work gets done, crops don't go untended, and even better, it helps to bridge the gap between them."

Sam rubbed her chin and sighed. "I know they're not the best of friends, but is it really _that_ bad? Larrin never mentioned anything about any problems with the…" Sam now realized that Laura had used a new word. "…Sorry, _Settlers?"_

Laura shrugged. "Most of the village elders I've been dealing with in trade don't like being called refugees anymore. They also don't want to be mistaken for Travelers so…" Smiling sarcastically, Laura chuckled. "I think they could have gone with something cooler like 'Pegasi' but eh…" Sam found it oddly amusing that Laura had started using Canadian colloquialisms.

Sam shook her head clear and rubbed her knuckles, sore from sparring with John. She'd improved quite a bit from her old USAF style fighting, but her leg was still a little stiff despite some more training. She'd taken to running with John, though she could tell she was slowing him down. That fact that he didn't even mention it spoke to how much he cared about getting her back in top order.

Getting back to the point, Sam asked. "So back to this credit thing, how would it work?"

Laura rubbed her hands together gleefully. "It's actually pretty simple. Food and Water rations don't cost anything, everyone is entitled to 3 squares a day, and Atlantis can handle all our water needs pretty much indefinitely. But other things like chocolate, extra coffee, smokes, even spare clothing or flashlights, anything that isn't strictly needed would cost a certain amount of credits depending on how much of it we have in stock."

Catching the word, Sam summed it up in a single phrase. "So... you want to open an Atlantis Stock Market?"

"More or less." Laura snickered. "You know, I joined the Marines to kick ass and take names, then I switched to the flyboys to play with more explosives. Never thought I'd end up becoming an intergalactic stock market trader."

Sam had to laugh at the incredulousness. "This place has that quality, you can't leave here the same as you came."

Laura noted that Sam seemed… _happy._ Not that she ever seemed unhappy; Laura now checked her thinking and rephrased her thoughts. Sam seemed… _content._ "That's true, never in a million years did I ever think I'd be dating the _Chucknician._" Sam remained silent despite the joke, not inputting one way or the other. Laura noticed and waited a few seconds before asking quietly. "I uhh… I actually wanted to ask you. I know that technically because we're… _rogues_… the rules don't really apply… but…"

Sam bowed her head and sighed. "I know. It's hard for me to just come out and talk about it much. I'm worried… but I'm not a hypocrite. I knew coming here that people were going to start to pair off and… " Again Sam sighed and she rubbed her face. "You don't know… _god…_ no one knows… Laura… I don't know how you and Chuck really got to where you are, but it's not like that for me. Me and …" Sam stopped. She wanted to get this off her chest, but Daniel was the only one she would trust with everything. But after spending so much time with Laura after her injury, Sam felt that maybe she should make the effort of actually talking with, rather than towards her subordinates… namely because they really weren't _her_ subordinates anymore for any reason beyond choice. "… I'm jealous of you, y'know?"

Laura raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Nodding, Sam sighed. "I look at you and Chuck and… and I see a healthy... normal relationship that doesn't get in the way of your jobs." Scoffing softly, Sam rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness.

Making a small noise in her throat, Laura quietly replied. "We didn't really… well, it's not like we _planned_ for it to happen." Seeing that Sam was trying to be honest with her, and wanted to talk about this, Laura decided to open up just a little. "I guess me and Chuck were just friends first. We uhh.. we played a lot, hell we even taught some of the Travelers about music and we put all the instruments left over in storage in case someone wants to learn."

Sam snickered softly to herself. "Wouldn't happen to be a cello in there would there?"

Looking at her like she'd gone mad, Laura shook her head. "Sorry, there's a couple of guitars, drums, a few keyboards, a viola, a few woodwinds and a tuba."

Snorting, Sam couldn't imagine who played the tuba. "Drat. Might have to snag that viola though."

Laura continued with her little speech. "Anyways… it uhh… it actually happened a few months after I got hurt." She remembered that night well; it had changed a lot of her perspectives. "It was a little after Christmas. And I was feeling kinda blue ya know? I've had Christmas away from home but this was… _different. _ He came to my quarters with this weirdass pizza thing and some beer. Brought a movie too."

Sam smiled as she spoke. "Sounds like a nice little date."

Chuckling, Laura nodded. "I'll say, we're watching the movie, just sitting there on the sofa and…" Now she snickered and blushed a little. It was odd to talk about this. "Well… one thing led to another and…" She sighed, now considering what had happened. "Neither of us planned for it, but when it happened it… it didn't feel wrong. I can trust him you know? It's hard to find people like that."

Closing her eyes, Sam recalled her own little date with John. "Yeah… yeah that is true."

Before they could continue speaking, their earpieces rang as John's voice came in. "_This is Sheppard calling Sa… Carter." _Sam spared a small glance to see that Laura was smiling knowingly.

"Yes, John? This is Carter."

Laura turned away and faced the sea; she didn't want to risk bursting out laughing at Sam's blush. John's voice seemed serious. _"I need you to come to your office right now, it's important. Cadman, I know you're listening so you come too, this involves you."_

Now both women looked at each other, both curious as to what could be happening.

* * *

"I kept trying to make these numbers fit, especially since I know the Olim are stingy with all their stuff. I decided to do a quick check of my own visually."

Sam sighed and looked over at John; she already knew what was coming. "And?"

Chuck laid the tablet down on her desk. "And we're only sending about three quarters of our agreed trade to the Olim, we're holding back the high technology such as crystal fabrication and Naquadria. The numbers look strange because they're wrong. And seeing as me and Laura were the ones to set it up, I know that can't be right."

John sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. "Nothing gets past you, huh?"

To the side, Laura who was sitting on the sofa screwed her face. "You _knew_?"

Sam nodded. "We _both _know. It's complicated, but there's a very good reason for it. Daniel's handling one last part on the Olim Homeworld with Proconsul Centaurus, but…" She sighed and rubbed her face. How had she let Daniel talk her into this? "… to put it in simplest terms, Proconsul Centaurus warned Daniel that the other Olim in their council were beginning to get more than just annoyed that we wouldn't let them examine Atlantis or outright give them advanced technology. Aulus himself is willing to wait and earn our trust, but there are elements in his governorship that aren't willing to wait. He _requested_ that we do this in order to try and draw out those people who are more hostile so he can deal with them."

Laura was shocked. She'd heard of intrigue in the stock market and trade before, but this was ridiculous! "_What the hell?_ So he's literally asking us to screw him over so he can help us? What's his game? No one's that noble… _or stupid_."

John shook his head. "I dunno, but I still trust him more than any other Olim. Not that I'd trust him more than say Woolsey, but the principle is what matters."

Sam turned a somewhat annoyed face to John, but before she could rebuke him, Chuck interrupted. "Then there's a problem."

Looking up at him, Sam furrowed her brow. "Problem?"

Chuck nodded and pointed to a specific line in the sheet of logged inventory. "They're screwing us over too."

* * *

"Thank you Aulus, I've really enjoyed this trip and I gladly extend the same invitation for you and your immediate staff to visit Atlantis for a full tour."

To the side, Menalus gave a wary half-smile but remained silent. Aulus along with Aquilina both gave Daniel gentle nods. "I accept your invitation. We will discuss specifics in our next established trade meeting. I wish you good health Daniel."

Daniel smiled. He'd really bridged a huge gap between Atlantis and the Olim on this trip and even more, his notes on their culture were extensive. He'd even managed to get a sneak peek at their "temple" and he'd recognized many Alterran symbols, including Earth's point of origin.

Aquilina stepped forward now, her hand extended in their traditional gesture of greeting and farewell. "I look forward to your next visit, Doctor Jackson. You are a worthy specimen of your kind."

Okay, maybe she needed to learn some etiquette, but she was trying at least. Daniel extended his hand and their fingers interlaced and squeezed. The reasons behind the greeting were quite intriguing and Daniel would enjoy boring Sam and Teyla with it. "Be well, Primus Locagos Centaurus." Daniel was quite intrigued with the blending of ancient Roman and Greek terminologies. The languages were different, yet the Olim used a strange mix of the two when denoting rank. Aquilina was considered to be an honorary field grade officer. Something similar to an experienced Captain in Army terms. Aulus himself was considered a "Legate" or General, though they pronounced it slightly differently.

Aquilina nodded once respectfully, "Safe journey, short though it may be. And tell this…'Drake' that he is more than welcome to come and share his story of victory over the Shade."

Daniel fought his wince. He'd shared the findings from the team to the Olim, and it had some rather unexpected consequences. No matter, he'd deal with it when he got back home. "I will, I'm sure he'd find this place… fascinating." Truthfully Daniel didn't know whether Dan would enjoy this place, he simply didn't know him that well. It was hard to consider, but there _had_ been the formation of 'cliques' on Atlantis and he simply hadn't noticed because to his bemusement, Daniel himself was in the upper echelons of it.

A few final farewells, and Daniel stepped through the gate back to Atlantis… and into Sam and John along with Chuck and Laura staring at him. He looked around and saw nothing broken, nothing that could be blamed on him. "Uhhh… Whatever it is, I'm innocent until proven otherwise."

* * *

"You made this?"

Dan nodded as Rafaela circled the welded art version of Atlantis Drake had spent the last few weeks making. "Gotta pass the time somehow. Whompin' trainees is nice, but this Traveler plasma welder is the shit."

Rafaela winced at the last word. "Why do you have to swear so much? It's so…" Now Rafaela was stuck, how could she reprimand him without actually insulting him?

Dan for that matter understood right away as he pulled off his welding mask. "It's fucked, I know. Just the way I learned English. Honestly I don't even notice unless someone tells me."

Sitting down, Rafaela rubbed her hands as she examined the sculpture. "Well I'm not going to tell you it's wrong, but I would expect better language since you're an engineer and all. It's kinda distracting to hear… " She stopped, not willing to say the words.

Dan had no such reservations "Fuck? Shit? Asshole? Coc…"

Before he could finish the last one, Rafaela yelped. "_Dan!"_

Laughing now, Dan shook his head. "Oh come on, I don't think I've _ever_ heard you swear before. Come on, give it a try."

Blushing now, Rafaela questioned why she'd come down her to see if he wanted to grab lunch. "What? No!"

Dan chuckled as he put the equipment away. "Come on, we'll start off small, '_Oh shit!'"_ He motioned for Rafaela to join in.

Shaking her head, Rafaela was confused as to how she ended up in situations like these. Dan continued pestering her to swear and even put emphasis into it with his arms.

Eventually, after about 20 times Rafaela just wanted it to end. So she began softly _"_Oh_… shit."_

Dan nodded. "That's it, now come on, louder."

"Oh… shit."

"You can do better than that, come on! 'Oh shit!'."

Rafaela winced, and decided to get it over with. Even so, it was kinda cool to be swearing so heavily so quickly. "Oh… shit. Oh shit. Oh Shit! _Oh Shit!"_

Interrupting her to Rafaela's horror, Nevas stepped in with an utterly confused face. "Am I interrupting something… _personal?"_

Realizing that by emphasizing the curse, she sounded like she was… _"NEVAS! Oh my god! It's not what you think!!" _Rafaela flailed her arms and then covered her mouth, trying to emphasize the _right_ point now.

Dan was merciless, his gut laugh as he sat back down on the bench he'd set up was utterly embarrassing. Rafaela kept asking herself when Dan must have lost his shame, if he ever had it at all. Nevas for that matter seemed confused. "What? You think I'm..? Aw Doc, I don't care if you two are passin' the time with each other, I came down here to tell Dan something."

Hearing that there was actually a good reason for the interruption, Dan stopped laughing despite still amused. "Aw, that was totally worth it. So what's up?"

Nevas smiled and decided to give Rafaela some breathing space. "Sheppard sent me to get you, said it was important and you should come up to the briefing room right away."

Dan nodded, then turned back to Rafaela. "Guess we'll have to wait for lunch."

Seeing Nevas now give her a suggestive smile, Rafaela quickly raised her hands and stammered. "Uhh yeah yeah… I-I-I.. I'll see… I gotta go!"

With Rafaela running off totally embarrassed, Dan simply chuckled to himself. Some of the people on the base really needed to calm down and live life to its fullest. It just didn't last that long.

* * *

"Dammit, Daniel, I told you to take a tablet; no one can read your shorthand."

Daniel screwed his face and looked down at the notepad. "What don't you understand?"

Sam shrugged and pointed to the scribbled notes. "Well, I understand a bit of it. Like here, a 'Chicken-like poultry.'"

Daniel leaned over Sam's arm and read his writing. "That says a Coliseum type palace!"

In the full room, John, Chuck and Laura all hid their winces. Seeing Daniel and Sam bicker was like watching siblings. Sam took Daniel's reply and pointed at the notes again. "Well there you go! If _I _can't read this, then how can anyone else?"

Daniel sighed, then nodded as he took a seat. "Fine, fine… I'll transcribe it before…"

The door to Sam's office opened and Drake popped his head in. "Somebody called?"

Sam and John both looked to each other, and John being nearer nodded at the Marine Captain. "Come on in, this is gonna take a bit."

Drake moved in, and found a seat on a small but comfortable chair in Sam's office. She had set it up much more personally now, with even a few pictures and figures standing on shelves. Drake oddly mused about the doll or action figure, he couldn't tell, of Major Matt Mason that sat on her desk. "So what's up?"

Sam opened the dialogue. "We've got a problem with the Olim, and through some strange twist of fate, you're the best to deal with it."

Drake nodded softly and mused to himself. "Didn't know I was that popular." Daniel snorted to himself and then couldn't resist. His actual laughs drew Drake's attention and he said, "Didn't know I was that funny either."

Daniel shook his head but his smile remained. "Oh by the time we're done you're gonna feel _a lot_ funnier and popular."

* * *

"What happened to you? You look like you just got spanked or something."

Alicia shot Dusty a menacing look, but the joke did little to cheer Alicia up. "There's something wrong with the Olim, Carter just told me."

Dusty turned in her seat inside Rafaela's lab and lost her smile. "They hurt Jackson?"

Shaking her head, Alicia clenched her jaw. "No, Carter didn't say, she just said to go see Mila, said she's got some new toys for us."

Off to the side, Rafaela popped up from a console she was taking apart. "Oh I think you'll like what she's got for you. I saw the plans and it's very… _soldier_." Dusty and Alicia looked to each other and shrugged, as they both got up and began to move off, Rafaela called out "Leesha?"

Alicia turned, Dusty continuing on knowing that this was likely to be a small private conversation. "Yeah?"

Waiting until Dusty had left, Rafaela lowered her voice forcing Alicia to come closer. "Have you talked to Dan since…?"

Alicia turned away and clenched her jaw. "Not really. I'm still pissed."

Unwilling to give up what he'd told her in confidence, Rafaela tried to reason with her. "You really should, it's not good for you guys to fight like this."

Shaking her head. Alicia sat down and sighed. "Look, I know you owe him and frankly, I owe him too, but he's just so _angry_ lately that it's impossible to talk with him."

Rafaela shook her head, now understanding that bullheadedness was a common trait in the military. No wonder the frat regs made so much sense. "You don't get it. He's not angry, he's _frustrated_ and you shutting him out is just gonna piss him off even more. _Talk to him._ It's the best way."

Cracking her knuckles, Alicia did admit that she was being a little obtuse, but if she was obtuse, than Dan was being utterly hostile. "_He_ started it, and unless he tells me why he's so angry, he's nothing more than just an extra gun to me."

Rafaela furrowed her brow. What did Alicia mean by _that?_

* * *

**A/N: **Here are several wallpapers for the series. Simply replace the (DOT) with a . and the (COLON) with a : for the link

**Series Wallpaper. Stargate was modeled, textured, and rendered by the awesome _Alx Shipyards_. Wallpaper by yours truly. Both Widescreen and Standard Aspect Ratios**

_http(COLON)//i11(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/a196/Aragon101/dark%20frontier/HDWallpaperHoagGate(DOT)jpg_

_http(COLON)//i11(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/a196/Aragon101/dark%20frontier/Wallpaper-Web-HD-Gate4x3(DOT)jpg_

**Another Series Wallpaper, Made by the lovely _Neela_. Features the entire cast of Season 1.**

_http(COLON)//i672(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/vv86/dreigiau-neela/darkfrontier1024x768(DOT)jpg_

**Another wallpaper, made by yours truly, it was inspired by _Neela's_ wallpaper. It features the primary cast of Season 1**

_http(COLON)//i11(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/a196/Aragon101/dark%20frontier/Dark-Fronteir-WallPaper(DOT)jpg_

**A Sam/John wallpaper made by yours truly for _Neela_ and _Crystal Kenobi._**

_http(COLON)//i11(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/a196/Aragon101/dark%20frontier/Dark-Frontier-Wallpaper-Sam-John(DOT)jpg_

**And as a VERY special treat, _Alx Shipyards_ also rendered a small video of the Hoag's Object Stargate in the process of dialing :P**

_http(COLON)//www(DOT)youtube(DOT)com/watch?v=AhrhQjn-LRw_


	43. Just Business Second Quarter

"You know, it's odd that Star Trek got it relatively right." Chuck saw the others on the shooting range give him odd looks. "I mean, we've got phasers, transporters, shields, all we're missing is a bald headed commander and a womanizing second in command..." Laura snorted and rolled her eyes. Chuck got the hint instantly. "Actually check that... we almost had Woolsey as our boss... and John..." Realizing that everyone, Drake, Laura, even Mila were staring at him, Chuck corrected himself. "Hrm... you know what? We _are_ living in Star Trek."

Mila rolled her eyes and blew Chuck a raspberry. "And what? I'm Weasly Crusher?"

Chuck winced, it was funny, but for all the wrong reasons. "No, you're not nearly as annoying."

Laura chuckled and shifted around in her new uniform. "Alright, alright, that's enough geeking out." She turned to Mila. "No offense kiddo, but where's Radek? I thought he was the one doing this."

Mila groaned irritatedly. "Radek's gone a little crazy. I think he's in love."

Chuck raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? He actually found someone? I'm impressed."

Drake remained silent throughout the whole conversation, silently checking his new weapon. Mila replied emphatically. "_I wish!_ He really needs a woman. No, he's in love with Atlantis itself! Have any of you even _seen_ him lately?"

The group looked to each other and shrugged, Laura replied. "Uhh… well I see him when we're trading equipment with the Olim, but you're right… where the hell is he all the time?"

Mila shook her head. "He's usually in the Potentia room, he's even got a cot in there so he can sleep! He says he can hear whispering, telling him how to improve Atlantis and make it self-sufficient!"

Now everyone except Drake gave each other worried looks. It was all silenced as Drake shouldered the Particle Rifle and fired a single shot downrange. "Nice."

Mila again growled in annoyance and shook her head. "Yeah it is, but you'll probably have to retrain a bit. It's got a much stronger battery and even an automatic fire mode, but it's got no recoil. Radek may have been the one to suggest it, but me an' Roofie been working on it in our spare time."

Laura fingered her own new rifle, and seated it against her shoulder. It was roughly the same size as a G-36E with an extendable stock for longer armed people or extended range. "Roofie?"

Mila shrugged. "Rafaela, she says it's a funny name."

Laura grimaced, realizing that Rafaela really _was _ a bit of a shut in if she didn't know what a 'roofie' was. "How much ammo?"

Mila shrugged. "Two hundred on stun, a hundred on overcharge before it needs a new battery. Standard rate of fire is five rounds a second which gives you twenty seconds of sustained fire. It can be recharged back here, but it's not that big." Mila picked up her own rifle, it almost looked like a toy with its shorter barrel, and pulled off the stock revealing a battery compartment. She expertly pulled it out and slapped a new battery in; it wasn't much bigger than a TV remote control. "It's basically a bunch of the old magnum batteries in a row. Larrin and Sheppard wanted something with enough ammo for… " She screwed her face. "…crowd control?"

None of the soldiers said anything, they simply dressed in their new uniforms and began to practice with the new weapons.

* * *

"Why does yours have more buttons?"

Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "I think Larrin said something about all these being handmade, so each is different. Plus most of this leather is from old clothing; it's taking time to cure the leather from all the new animals they've found. Look, my buttons are backwards!"

Laura snorted as Chuck picked at his uniform. "Great, so they made these uniforms so we don't look unprofessional, but none of them follow the same design! Someone messed up and now I've got a jacket that barely covers my ass." Chuck smiled and Laura instantly poked him. "Think it, Chuck, don't say it!"

To the side, Drake chuckled as he sat with his feet up on another chair he'd appropriated in the briefing room. "You two want me to leave? I promise I won't listen in."

Laura gave Drake a death glare as they awaited John, Sam and Daniel. "Dan, do you _like_ having two testicles?"

Before Drake could reply, the doors behind them opened and Sam, John and Daniel walked in. Each gave their respective greetings and soon everyone was sat down. Sam began the final briefing. "Good to see you've gotten fitted. This is going to be a delicate mission and we're hoping nothing goes wrong."

John shrugged. "If something does, which it probably will though, don't hesitate."

Sam turned a disapproving look to John, but he held his ground. Daniel interjected before all hell broke loose. "That is to say, don't go looking for trouble. The Olim are a very proud people and especially because only Laura has the ATA gene thanks to the therapy; they might look at you two differently."

Dan leaned forward and screwed his face. "I thought I was a celebrity."

Daniel winced, and nodded politely. "Yes, after I told them of the 'incident' at the Shade Nursery planet, you've become something of a household name to them. But that doesn't change your DNA."

If he wasn't arrogant enough, the knowledge that an entire race of people were speaking his name like some holy warrior was just that last edge he needed. Chuck rolled his eyes and mused. "Moving on?"

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yes, now because of the agreement we've made with Aulus, you'll be going to his specific homeplanet. The Olim have a really complicated system of government which Daniel has transcribed." She turned a sweet, yet deadly smile to Daniel. "You _have_ transcribed it, haven't you?"

Daniel shrugged around a bit, and gave his answer. "More or less."

John chuckled once and sighed in glee. "Oh this is gonna be one _hell_ of a party."

Sam ignored the quip, and moved on. "We'll be sure to give you all that information on your new interface computers."

John perked up hearing about the interface. "Actually you're going to be testing out the prototypes. It's basically a PDA that's mounted on your wrist. The Travelers have been using cheap ones for years, but with our technology they've basically put a whole laptop on your wrist. Weighs like a pound or two."

Chuck's eyes lit up. "A PIPboy?"

Sam flat out smacked her face. "_Eugh_… At least you didn't say 'Wrist Lojackimator.' " John gave a wry smile, but he'd been learning to keep his mouth shut when things were serious.

Giving Sam a look of sympathy, Daniel continued. "Well in any case, the biggest thing you need to remember is that the Olim differentiate themselves via a two tiered class system. First we have the houses; you'll mostly be dealing with the "Centaurus" house. It's the second smallest, but they're probably the most open to talks and trade with us because they've been at the forefront of cultural revolution."

Furrowing her brow, Laura muttered. "Cultural revolution? What is this, the sixties?"

Shrugging, Daniel replied eventonedly. "Actually you're not far off. Atlantis coming here really set them off and when I was there, a lot of them didn't even believe we existed. The Centaurions were the first to spread out so they're very independent. Apart from that, the Olim also class themselves based on their evolutionary state. Specifically, percentage of brain use. Don't be fooled though, all that means is they can feel your emotions a little and that's only their high ranking officials. Actually, most aren't much more than Colonel Sheppard." John smiled and looked oh so smug, that is until Sam's foot gave him a sharp kick under the table, bringing him back to reality. "Their culture is almost entirely based on worship of the Alterra, as well as their 'crusade' against the Shade."

Chuck cracked his jaw, Laura could tell by now that that meant he was worried. "Crusade? They're not the whole 'holy warriors' bit are they?"

Sam nodded and sighed. "If they are, don't piss em off, please? I think we already had enough of that with the Ori in the Milky Way."

John added. "Don't forget all the wackos we found in Pegasus."

Finishing off the point, Daniel ran his hand through his hair and used it to emphasize his point. "Simply put, be as diplomatic as you can, but don't be a pushover. Several times while I was there, a soldier or guard would try and goad me into a verbal confrontation. Don't fight, but don't back down from your position. They respect strength and devotion. If you say you'll do something, _do it."_

Dan flexed his fist, his arm tight inside his leather uniform. "And if it comes down to a fight?"

Sam and John turned to look to each other, it was clear that there was _not _a consensus there. Sam sighed, knowing that in a situation like this, sometimes diplomacy was best laid out with a warm gun. "Don't start anything, but you've got full authority to finish it."

* * *

"Ronny? What are you doing here?"

Aleron snorted softly as he took up a position next to Aquilina, both of them overlooking the Astria Porta from the above catwalk next to the dialing pedestal. "Do I need a reason to annoy my sister?"

Aquilina rolled her eyes and sighed. "If you've come to dissuade me, forget it. You know what this will mean for me."

Shaking his head, Aleron mused. "Mean for you? Have you been drinking the temple's spirit water again?"

Now somewhat embarrassed, Aquilina shook her head. "Oh… never mind. So what _are_ you here for, Ronny?"

Aleron found Aquilina's nickname for him rather amusing. He leaned on the railing above the Astria Porta, the entire room like a great hall with space enough for an entire ship. Weapon emplacements went unmanned; only during a Porta Strike were they ever used along with the Porta Guard barricade. That Trinium shield had protected them for ages, a gift of the Progenitors. "Is that any way to address your superior officer?" He said it with his tongue in cheek; these kinds of arguments were common between them.

Aquilina met it stride for stride. "Only when he's as ugly as a Shade's posterior."

Ahead of them, the Astria Porta began to engage; the Atlanteans were arriving. "Oh? I hear this 'Dan Drake" is supposed to be some kind of godly figure, like Apollo even."

Laughing now, Aquilina gave Aleron a gentle elbow. Both were wearing their armor packs, but neither had it engaged. "Even if he were Apollo himself, I would never mate with such a primitive being."

Aleron turned to Aquilina with a touch of anger. "Still blind are we? Very well, I'm here on father's orders. What _are_ you doing here?"

The Astria Porta flashed open, and a few moments passed before a trio of armed people walked through. Aleron thought he recognized one of them, but it passed quickly. Aquilina shrugged. "I wished to see them. Notice what they are armed with?"

Focusing, Aleron could see that indeed, they were armed with those energy weapons that negated the defensive properties of the Alcaeus Armor. These weren't the small handguns either, these looked like much stronger versions. "They are simply being cautious. After Magna Secundus, and Beta Telemite, it's only logical that they don't feel safe around us."

Scoffing, Aquilina shook her head. "Nor I around them. So at least there is symmetry."

That's when Aleron realized, the woman who now nodded and greeted the Astria Porta guards was the same one who had taken down Aquilina in the initial contact. Still, Aleron felt almost disappointed he did not see the one whom he'd seen many cycles ago on the lunar outpost of Aschelon. Somewhere in his head, he felt an odd sense of loss that she may not have survived her time in this galaxy.

* * *

"They're looking at me…"

Laura snickered. "Now you know what it's like."

Dan shook his head. "I don't like it when people stare at me. Makes me feel like a criminal."

Chuck shrugged as they walked forward towards where Aulus awaited them in s small garden. "At least they notice you, I don't think I've gotten _any_ looks."

Now stepping down a small stone staircase, they exited the narrow passageway that led to the Stargate and came into view of the city beneath them. Laura was just teasing Chuck when they stepped out. "That's because your ass is...." Shocked over what they saw, Laura mused. "Whoa… It's like San Francisco met New York."

Chuck snorted, "More like Vancouver met Toronto."

Dan shook his head and motioned. "Come on, let's just hope they've got something better than Washington's public transit."

Below them, a large city comprised of ships on landing pads and tiered structures created an almost trailer park look, but accenting it, several ground fixed structures resembling gazebos or pagodas topped the almost garden of the planet. Hills and rolling fields separated each area. What was very surprising was the lack of any roads or paved ground. It was oddly disconcerting to the three Earth Born humans as the sun shone through the clouds.

Aulus got up from his seat in the garden and nodded to the approaching Lanteans. "Welcome. I admit, you have caught me unawares and unexpectedly. Colonel Carter was rather.. _vague…_ about what you are to be doing here." His stony glance changed to a gentle smile. "I would be more than pleased to accompany you on your tour. But I am needed elsewhere at this moment. Perhaps we can meet and discuss things during the midday meal?"

Laura as the leader of this pack nodded. "Of course, I'm quite astonished by your city here."

Chuckling, Aulus nodded and waved someone over. "Doctor Jackson said something quite similar. Yes, our city is primarily made of hyperspace capable ships. It has been a design for as long as I can remember in our history."

In a completely deadpan voice, Dan asked the ultimate question. "Why?"

Raising an eyebrow, Aulus replied equally deadpan. "Because the Shade can strike when you least expect it, and the Astria Porta can only move so much. Is that a direct enough answer?"

Appeased, Dan nodded. "Actually, yes."

There wasn't a chance for more words, as a handsome young man stepped forward and nodded to the Atlanteans. "Greetings. The Proconsul has asked me to be your guide in our city. Is there something you wish to see first or shall we start from here?"

Aulus nodded to the young man, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I will leave you in his capable hands. We will meet again later to discuss things. Good day."

Aulus left, and Laura, Chuck, and Dan were left on their own with this young man. He was a little taller than Laura, but not as tall as Dan, his hair was a chestnut brown and his face had an almost childlike innocence to it. His eyes were a deep blue, giving his gaze a cold edge despite the warmth of his smile. Laura had just decided to test Chuck; it's not like the Travelers ever made good game. Before she could though, the man smiled at her and nodded. "Hello. Syntarchis Aleron. And you are?"

Chuck cleared his throat. "Taken."

Dan chuckled at Chuck's defensiveness, Laura gave Chuck a pointed stare. "It's okay Chuck, _I_ don't mind."

Aleron turned to Chuck, and instantly his eyes grew to saucer sized. "_You!"_

Now on the defensive, Chuck made an O with his mouth. "Moi?"

Growling softly, Aleron explained. "You're the one who introduced the Beta Telamite colony to that fiendish plant!"

To everyone's surprise, Dan broke in with a peculiar vernacular. "Dude, you got herb? Damn bra, spread dat wealth."

Both Laura and Chuck grimaced. Aleron gave Dan a strange look as Laura replied. "I think he means the cocoa seeds we gave them."

Staring at Dan, Aleron muttered. "Herb? I would sooner call it weed."

Despite every bit of control they had, both Laura and Dan had to stifle their laughs. Chuck just stared at Aleron in amazement and mused. "Okay, somewhere, someone just died laughing."

* * *

The tour of the city had been spectacular; Laura had quickly fallen in love with the design simplicity of the Olim. Each ship was large enough to handle at least fifty people living inside, some as many as a thousand. With external ports for their version of plumbing (which ironically resembled what Laura knew was on the space shuttle that used no water as well as a cargo hold that could easily accommodate tanks, the Olim could live just about anywhere and have all the necessities.

The only real issue was the dozen or so people who'd recognized Dan from Daniel's stories and came to pester him about the Shade Nursery World. Aleron quickly dispatched them with a harsh glare, so overall it was a good tour.

Aleron had explained that this was his own ancestral Homeworld. They had just reached the center of the city where a shrine lay as he explained a bit of the Olim Houses to Laura, Chuck and Dan. "There are six houses remaining in Olim Society, I personally am of the Centaurus house. Each house can be directly linked back to one of the Progenitors."

Chuck had been very careful to listen to everything Aleron had said. He was particularly interested in their religion after the "Crusader" comment during the briefing earlier. "You mean the Alterra who originally inhabited this galaxy?"

Nodding, Aleron replied. "That's right. The scripture speaks of a great cataclysm, an escape from fire, plague and death."

Dan had been paying attention as well, but now as he looked up from his wrist computer where he was reading Daniel's notes on that same scripture, he summarized. "That could be the Ori. We've fought them too,"

Aleron looked Dan up and down. "You may be a formidable warrior from what I've heard. But I find it hard to believe you could have fought the specters of fire and death themselves and lived."

Chuck knew next to nothing about the Ori. He knew Dan had been in the SGC at the time, but not exactly what he'd done. "Well we did, and we kicked their asses. I'm sure Doctor Jackson will be _more_ than glad to tell you _that_ bedtime story."

Aleron replied with a mildly sarcastic deadpan tone. "I… see."

Looking at the shrine ahead of her, Laura pushed the subject forward. "What is this? It almost looks like a tomb."

Sighing, Aleron ran a hand along the worn stone. "This marks the original expedition we sent to this planet. We were…. _unprepared_ for the ferocity of this galaxy. This monument…" He motioned to the several standing pillars. Eons of weather and wind had eroded the rocks, but they remained standing tall and proud. "…commemorates the lives lost in our initial exploration of this galaxy."

Chuck couldn't help but notice something odd. "Unprepared? I woulda thought the stargates woulda had you ready for anything. Especially if the Ancients were around."

Giving Chuck an odd glance, Aleron softly mused. "Yes… logic would say that wouldn't it? But then again, even the best of us has our bouts of irrationality."

Laura could see that Aleron didn't want to talk about it, and since they were here to investigate these people anyway, pestering them didn't seem that smart. "Irrational? Aww…" She moved over and pinched one of Chuck's cheeks. "…You know _sooo_ much about that, don't you?"

Thoroughly emasculated, Chuck gave Laura a death glare. "And we're supposed to be professionals?"

At that moment, a young woman wearing an Alterran style robe with long brown hair and an almost amazed look walked up to the group and looked at Dan. "You're Dan Drake, aren't you? The light that dissolved the Shade…"

Aleron grimaced and groaned as he palmed his forehead. "Eugh… Not again…"

* * *

"Greetings once more. I trust you've had a productive tour of our city."

Laura nodded as she sat down at the heavy table, laden with food she didn't recognize. "Actually yes, I'm quite enamored with how you've been able to create infrastructure that doesn't necessarily bother the natural ecosystem of the planet." It took a second or two for Laura to come up with the entire sentence, it felt wrong to use colloquialisms around Aulus. "My own world is far from this level of harmony with the planet."

As they sat where Aulus motioned, Dan muttered. "Well, Ra burned out all our Naquadah, so all we've got left is dino guts."

Chuck snickered, but both men remained quiet as Laura gave them a pointed stare. Aulus on the other hand seemed unfazed, and he waved over some attendants to serve them. "Doctor Jackson was quite candid about how your people in Avalon fare. He said that due to the extenuating circumstances of your trip here, it is likely that you will never see your planet again."

With a rueful nod, Chuck replied. "Yeah, it was a hard decision, but we couldn't let what was happening happen." He gave the young girl attending him a gentle nod and smile, instantly feeling Laura's gaze in the back of his skull. "Thank you."

A few moments of silence ensued as they were each served food. It was a mix of greens, as well as a few slices of what appeared to be some kind of meat. Chuck was curious being an AAA Canadian beef kinda guy. "Do you raise cattle? I've noticed that in our trade with you there has been some meat products."

Aulus nodded. "In a way, while we populate eight planets with our people, there are almost three dozen smaller worlds that we harvest for foods and materials. We rotate on a regular basis and assist each planet afterwards with a natural recovery."

Being Canadian, Chuck HAD to know. "Natural recovery? How does that happen?"

Of course, being American, Laura interrupted first. "I'm sure we can go over that later. I think it's time we discussed why we came here."

Aulus was intrigued, it seemed that the Atlanteans were almost matriarchal. Sheppard relented to Carter, Larrin was a leader in her own right, even that overly violent Alicia Vega was a leader of a team. And here, this Laura was in a battle for control with Chuck, though Chuck seemed quite pleased to let her speak.

The only exception as far as he could tell was Daniel Jackson, and this Dan Drake character. It was different, but not unbelievable. "Yes, I do believe so." Aulus gave the attendants a few looks, and they all began to leave the room. "I expect you will want privacy?"

Dan nodded. "You betcha."

They allowed the entire assembly to leave, and in the well-adorned room of the ship Aulus used as his office, the meeting began. "I assume this has something to do with our trade agreements. I trust Colonel Carter has informed you of my plan?"

With a sly grin and nod, Dan replied as he took a bite of the strange meat. "Yep, but we were kinda wondering why we're getting screwed over too."

Laura shot him a hostile glance, but Dan ignored it. Continuing with more tact, Laura said. "What he means, Proconsul, is that the plan was for Atlantis to withhold certain technologies and equipment in order to draw out the people in your organization who aren't on the same page as you. But in our latest shipment, we discovered that we're getting different materials than we agreed upon as well."

Aulus leaned forward, intently listening. "Such as?"

Chuck hated it when people did that. Ask for more without giving up any indications of what they had in mind. "Food. Instead of a shipment of Trinium, we got a huge crate of freeze dried food. Not that we're really complaining, but it just caught us off guard."

Aulus himself seemed caught off guard. "Fascinating. I have little information on this subject. I do know that my own governorship was supplying Atlantis with foods and medical knowledge in exchange for certain equipment but…" A hint of realization came over Aulus, but he quickly shut it down. "… but I'm not quite entirely sure. I will have to ask some of our people about this, but I do not see much of a problem."

None of the Atlanteans missed it; Aulus knew more than he was saying, but none of them were willing to risk confirming it just yet since they weren't exactly in a safe position.

The rest of the meal went by normally, Aulus quickly changing the subject to a more light hearted one. He chuckled at Dan's annoyance of the constant stares, and explained that heroes against the Shade were the closest thing to "Celebrities" as Daniel Jackson had explained the Olim had.

Once they were done, Aulus excused himself and left the Atlanteans in their own room with a computer console they could use to access the Olim basic database of knowledge. None of the Atlanteans were feeling good about this situation at all.


	44. Just Business Third Quarter

In his youth, Aulus remembered some of the more outspoken of his people's scientists claim that time dilation was an effect of subspace, not velocity and energy consumption. Aulus was never one to deny a truth. For years, some of their best scientists had experimented in time travel, and it all came to the conclusion that unless negative energy could be achieved, it was impossible to go into the past. The future would be a matter of relativity, but basic laws of physics made it very difficult to achieve. The FTL technology of ages past was brutish compared to the latest subspace hyperdrives his people had developed and the matter was mostly moot now.

None of that meant much though, not against the Shade, and certainly not now as Aulus read the information scrolling across the terminal, other than of course the perception of relativity and how Aulus could feel time stopping around him.

Menalus had left the Centaurus household to retake his old position as Proconsul Denarius Telarus's right hand man. He'd originally come to Aulus seeking more opportunity to fight the Shade, Aulus being the current military legate of the Olim.

That was due to change soon, and Aulus was looking forward to his new position that would be more at home, near his family. But the changes made to the trade agreement, was all of it under Menalus's orders. Aulus quickly overrode the standard protection the files had with his own higher ranking codes and gasped as he realized what was going on.

Alone in his room, Aulus realized that in a very short time, nothing was going to be the same. He looked over to his secure storage and with a final breath, began to prepare for the coming onslaught.

* * *

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Dan had his rifle in a quick draw position.

Laura was covering from the port hole, watching for anyone who was coming close. "Yeah Chuck, you've done a lot of stupid stuff, but this kinda takes the cake."

Chuck rolled his eyes and groaned. "Do either of you know exactly how complicated finding a weakness in the code of a completely alien race with a wrist lojackamator is?"

Using his wrist mounted computer, Chuck translated the ancienty styled written language of the Olim so he could understand what he was looking at beyond the maths of it. Dan mused as he peeked out the doorway. "I thought you were calling it PIPboy or something?"

Chuck ignored the quip, and continued working on the console. He was hoping that while on the ground, the ships networked their computers together so he could gather some intelligence. Normally something he'd never do, but given Aulus's reaction, it was clear there was something screwy on the planet… "Laura, what's this planet called again?"

* * *

Time was running out, and Aleron stood by the entrance of the great senate hall waiting for Aulus. It had been hours now; an emergency council meeting was difficult to hear about unless one knew where to listen. Aleron had keenly noticed that Aulus had not been invited.

The others saw him as weak, a heretic of sorts. It had long been a part of the Centaurus family, the first to touch the stars, the first to bleed at the hands of the Shade, and now the first to truly accept a life without war.

Below, the leaders and military commanders of the other houses had congregated, called to juncture by the Telarus household. Even the Preator was here, Praetor Virelak Junor, supposedly a very calm and calculating man. Perfect for the job.

Telarus though.., the progenitor of faith, the dawn of Progenesis itself. Long were the those of the Telarus house the ones to store knowledge, keep the temple ships and shrines ready for use. Aleron had to admit, meditation did serve much more than a simple nap.

Himself a Centaurus, Aleron was part of a long line of explorers beginning with Centaurus himself. Before when the technology to reach the stars had only begun to surface, it was the Centaurions at the helm, the first to touch alien ground, the first to bleed at the hands of the forces in the galaxy.

Aleron had trained from youth to defend the Centaurus house, and even more, the natural curiosity he had served well when checking new planets or exploring age old outposts. His initial encounter with the Atlanteans 4 cycles ago had been strange, their mass weapons seemed almost brutish, using a chemical propellant instead of efficient magnetic propulsion.

The thoughts had to end though, as Aulus came up from behind and with a hand on his shoulder, nodded to the young man. "Thank you for telling me. Let us enter."

* * *

"What the hell? Nuclear food?"

Chuck shook his head, the information was surprisingly clear once he'd hacked through the relatively simple firewalls. "No, it's a chemical which has an adverse reaction to a specific kind of radiation, I'm no scientist but I can tell what this means."

Laura was feeling ready to throw up. "Chuck! I _ate_ one of those steaks this morning!"

Shaking his head, Chuck looked out the window now obviously worried. "No, no, no… says it needs time for the chemical to spread to your internal organs. I've copied all the data but from what I can tell, it's sorta like bioaccumulation."

Dan gave Chuck a bewildered look. "The fuck? Bio-whatsit?"

Rolling his eyes, Chuck explained. "A little won't kill you, but it'll stay in your system and build up. Eventually, when hit with that radiation, it'll do irreparable damage."

Dan again groaned. "_Fuuuck,_ you even sound like these bastards."

Chuck snarked back. "Well, you don't have to insult my above average Canadian education! The hell'd you learn in school?"

Scoffing, Dan flexed his arm as he raised the rifle to emphasize. "How to tell if a dealer's trying to rip you off."

Unwilling to put up with any hijinks, Laura summed up their plan quickly. "We need to get home… _now_. Once they realize we know, they'll switch to plan B."

Dan flicked the safety off the particle rifle. "Yeah, plan 'Blow us the fuck away.'"

-------------

"For countless ages we have remained peaceful, calm, tranquil. We are a proud people, we are a stoic people. Only in the last millennia have we made any impact in this galaxy, all the while fulfilling prophesy, laid down by the divine precursors.

Progenesis is more than faith, Progenesis is fact. We _are_ the children of the Alterra! We are their rightful heirs! The rumors you have heard of a divine city of the progenitors are true. Approximately 4 cycles ago, it came to this galaxy from far off in the universe, supposedly by mere coincidence.

Coincidence is the faith of the skeptic, of the religion of the absurd. One merely needs to look at the stars and the perfection of life itself to see that only the wisdom of the divine and noble progenitors could have possibly brought this change to us, only their provision could have brought us this blessing during our hour of need.

Many of you suspect, but few know the facts. I stand before you now, Menalus Telarus of the house of Telarus, long standing teachers and keepers of faith and knowledge, to inform you of the truth, for nothing else will bring us blessing. The Shade still breed throughout this galaxy like a plight, consuming all in their path. Our bravest have stood in their path, brazenly halting their advance and drawing vengeance for every life that has been lost.

But we are too few, our technology insufficient. For five hundred years we have stood against the tide and through our perseverance and faith in the progenitors, we have stood the test of time. We are the people who stood before the onslaught and with one resounding voice, said 'No!" and held our ground.

Now we must reap the blessing our resolve has given us. The city of the progenitors, Atlantis, a mere myth in our own legends, but a true reality I have stood upon and gazed in wonder at, it has come to give us the final words and knowledge of the progenitors.

We must take our rightful place! We have garnered our place in this universe! Our struggle has been unending, but no more! Atlantis and the full blessing of the progenitors is rightfully ours and nothing, not the Shade, not the nature of evolution itself, and certainly not the pack of pre-enlightened primates that infest such a glorious marvel will usurp our just place among the stars!

I stand before you now with a battle cry, tell your houses, our most honored warriors of all our houses shall gather in less than a lunar cycle, we shall take what is ours as one, our people will cry out in a single voice and the universe will follow our cry! We will retake this galaxy! We will restore the glory of the Alterra! And we will make Atlantis our capital and the forefront of our reclaiming of this galaxy! Glory to the Progenitors!"

The highly emotional, and yet very uninformative speech did not sit well with Aulus who stood near the back of the council amphitheatre. Menalus had recently grown in rank and returned to his own household, chosen by Proconsul Denarius Aquinus to lead the talks with Atlantis. The Proconsul was one of those seated, now standing and cheering in the mob frenzy.

Aulus flexed his fist, and rubbed his arm where his familial bracer held his shared life's pledge, a trinket to most, but to Aulus, it said all the things he and his shared had ever said and felt. "Aleron…"

Aleron stood nearby, an ostensible shadow of Aulus' figure. "Yes, Father?"

This was the hardest thing Aulus would ever have to do. The final promise he'd made, the final oath he'd sworn to, and the only pledge he really gave a damn about anymore was about to be pushed to a limit he would have never imagined. "I can safely assume you are not representing the house of Centaurus in Menalus's pack of ruffians?"

Aleron shook his head and shared his feelings of disgust. "I have met the Atlanteans, they are a calm and civil people. I would sooner mate with a Shade than be a part of such a crime."

That meant only one thing, and Aulus winced as he felt his eyes water. "Then…?"

Knowing what his father was about to say, Aleron nodded dejectedly as he realized what Aquilina had said earlier. "She has already gone, Father. I imagine she seeks to prove her strength and will."

It took several seconds for Aulus to build up the needed courage and tenacity, as well as to brace himself for the shock of saying what he said now. "Do you recall when I asked you of the Atlanteans?"

"My opinion remains unchanged, Menalus is a fanatic, but a clever and sharp tongued one." Suddenly realizing what his father was about to ask, Aleron turned his head to him, now facing him. "_Father_?"

Aulus turned to look at his son, a glint of moisture in his eye. "I told you then I may have need of you, that I may ask much of you before this is over…" He hesitated a second, the words caught in his throat.

Aleron understood instantly, and winced as he turned away. "…I… I know you would not ask if…" Sighing, Aleron took a few seconds to himself to think about what was likely to happen in the coming weeks and months. Only one question really mattered. "Would she be proud?"

Without even needing to think, Aulus knew what the truth was and answered. "Prouder than you'll ever know." Aulus sighed, and wanted to reach out and embrace his son, but such a thing had passed for them; his son was his equal, his right and left hand in all matters of true importance. "Do not tarry, and do not take your armor from the barracks. Go home, access my personal storage with the password 'Where shade is but respite from the sun.' and take what you feel you will need. Menalus will not tardy in apprehending the ambassadors from Atlantis, they will need you."

Aleron shuddered. "How far should I…?"

Interrupting him, Aulus summed it up quickly. "Anything, the only caveat is…"

Mimicking the interruption, Aleron said sharply. _"…Her."_

* * *

The ship had long been Aleron's home, he knew every nook and cranny, and by memory alone he could go anywhere in it. It was 3 stories, and large enough to house an entire crew of a hundred and fifty.

In fact, there was only one place he'd never been allowed into. One place he had yet the honor to see as Proconsul Aulus's son. Aleron looked down to the pad, put his hand on the bioscanner and mused. "Where shade is but respite from the sun."

The locks on the secure storage of his father's room came undone, and the door slid open soundlessly. The air inside smelled a little mustier than the rest; it likely hadn't seen much use.

Inside, Aleron found much that touched his heart, mementoes from a life he'd loved, a family he'd been proud to be a part of. Toys, gadgets, and even small personal nicknacks like his first training rifle were in here. Each corner of the room seemed dedicated to someone.

He quickly picked out only a single small possession of his own he'd long since forgotten was his. Holding the small flute to his mouth, Aleron gave a slow and deep breath, the dust from the flute quickly vanishing and a dulcet tone replacing it.

Memories came back, of time he'd spent with his parents traveling the stars, overseeing the House's projects, and the final cheerful song he'd played for his mother before her passing.

That led to Aleron looking at the opposite corner, items and photos he never knew existed. His mother looked as beautiful as in his memory, sweet and kind, humble unlike many other's he'd met in his life. Aleron remained somber as he thought about what might happen soon.

With slight hesitation, he picked up his mother's head cloth, Many times he had seen her wear it, to keep the sweat out of her eyes or to wipe his face of the mud from playing and training. He knew it was a simple thing, but he gentle put it inside his pack, careful not to damage the dainty light blue material.

That left Aquilina's corner, possessions Aulus had long ago stored for her, girlish things, very little that Aleron would miss. In the end, all he ended up taking was a carving, from before Aquilina had decided to follow in his footsteps. The artist who had made it used a laser cutter and a crystal the size of his fist. The careful detail was pristine, and Aquilina's face was as perfect as he recalled, though more innocent than the brash young woman he knew and still loved today.

His pack full now, Aleron turned his attention to the back of the room where Aulus's ceremonial Achilus armor stood. It looked pristine and shiny, the solid adornments along the arms and torso more than simple decoration, it contained the wetware and built in weaponry for sustained combat. They shone in changing color, automatically camouflaging to the surrounding environment. Aleron could almost see the ceremonial headdress as well, and was glad that this wasn't going to be used for a simple ceremony.

With no real mass industrial capabilities besides the mining ships, each of this suits was precious, the degree of engineering unbelievably costly. It wasn't easy to produce the Alcaeus Armor, let alone this upgraded ceremonial version. The degree of precision needed reserved it only for the best, and the honored.

Aulus had been both, and for him to gift this suit to Aleron meant scores more than anything he could ever say. Aleron was still young comparatively despite his accomplishments, but he knew that part of his success was his family, the opportunities he'd been given. Aleron had long ago reconciled that fact, something Aquilina refused to do.

And now Aleron was leaving, he slipped into the metallic frame of the armor and allowed it to scan him, to give him access to the suit's full level of abilities.

He found himself wishing that he could have been born ages ago, when the abilities of this armor would have been tremendously more, but as the liquid Trinium began to form a hard shell around him, the suit's life support systems taking over, an eighty seven percent degree of compatibility was acceptable to him. It would hurt a little to stealth or shard, but given what he was about to do, it didn't seem like he'd be using those that much.

_"Aleron…"_

Hearing the disembodied voice of his father was confusing, but not totally unexpected. "Hello. Can't say I'm surprised."

The voice replied with amusement. _"Indeed, while I may not actually _be_ your father, I have modified the artificial intelligence with a synaptic imprinting of my own thoughts. I may not be a warrior any longer, but you will need all the advantages you can get."_

He'd been trying not to think about it, but just like his real father, it forced him to look at the hard issues and deal with them. "I know. I'm grateful."

_"You may not be so grateful soon, I am picking up increased communication between our military units. You must hurry."_

Sighing, Aleron disengaged the locks on the armor and stepped out, a full five hundred pounds worth of Trinium and the most comprehensive electronics gear the Olim could create. "Next stop. Atlantis."

* * *

The Olim were surprised to see them walking around, and Dan had to fight the temptation to start firing and run for it. Deep down he knew that the genocidal plan _had_ to be done by someone high up. The common folk who tended gardens, built chairs, he even spotted someone skinning an animal who likely knew nothing of the nuclear food.

Dan didn't care, all he wanted was to get home, and never deal with these fuckers again.

They'd just gotten to the bottom of the stone staircase that led up to the warehouse like hall that housed the Stargate when a pair of guards in front of them stopped them.

* * *

A few people turned their heads, obviously reverent of the almost demonic looking armor that zoomed past them. Aleron chuckled to himself as he ran along the rooftops of the ships between him and the Astria Porta; to go on the road would cause too much blockade in his way.

He'd done this before, and each time he was yelled at it only made it funnier to do. The ships were designed to be able to deflect micrometeors, surely a few footprints weren't going to harm them. Each leap drew even more gasps; it wasn't every day the common person saw a ceremonial suit of shining liquid Trinium armor fly across the sky.

Using the suit's optical function, Aleron zoomed in on the staircase leading to the Astria Porta. The Atlanteans had been stopped and were surrounded; four guards, two in Alcaeus armor, were boxing them in.

Aleron had never killed another man before, but he fully knew he was capable of it. The Shade had hardened him, strike missions to infested planets, defensive holding actions at the Astria Porta of nearly a dozen planets, even the bugs were all perfect practice for this, something no Olim had done in ages.

Just as he focused and pushed hard with his legs and mind, forcing the magnetic field of the armor to lunge him headfirst towards the group, he spotted all three Atlanteans raise their weapons and fire at their would-be captors.


	45. Just Business Fourth Quarter

Dan had never surrendered to _anything._ Not to drugs, not to Alicia's bitching, not to the Ori and _certainly_ he wasn't going to surrender to a bunch of well-spoken prissy little sonsabitches who thought they should have Atlantis and were willing to kill them all.

The particle rifle had no recoil, and on full automatic, Dan's accurate shooting quickly downed the metal encapsulated Olim in front of him, the stun bolts easily enveloping the unprepared armored soldier.

Despite never surrendering, he knew full well that his back was exposed and while Laura could likely keep up, Chuck couldn't be nearly the same shot. So he was just waiting for that shot to hit his back, to put him down to sleep once and for all.

Instead, as he spun around now that the targets in front of him were downed by him and Chuck, Dan saw a blur of sparkly metal land beside the other Olim, a flash of red barreling through them and swatting them aside as if they were nothing. A voice rang out in fury. _"Run! I will cover you!" _Unsure of what to do, Dan raised his rifle to the target. The man's helmet receded quickly, and Aleron's face became visible. "Run, you ignorant fool or die!"

He looked more like some kind of space centurion with the splashes of red color along his armor, but geeling Laura's hand begin to pull at him, it became apparent to Dan that wasn't going to have to shoot the Olim bastard… today.

Aleron didn't blame the man, certainly the circumstances were extenuating. But with just a touch of hesitation, he used the built in magnetic accelerators on his forearms to put the pair of Alcaeus wielders out of commission, each shot creating a loud ping that had likely deafened the man or woman inside.

It wasn't a fatal injury either. It was nigh on impossible to kill someone in those suits with kinetic energy, but as he looked back, Aleron almost wished it were possible as he spotted more of them coming from the barracks to investigate the ruckus.

_"You cannot fall here."_

Instinct told him to fight, and Aleron had to resist that aggressive urge as he charged up the staircase to the garden ahead where the Atlanteans had taken cover. All three were laying suppressive fire for him to escape. Something he hadn't expected.

A gauss rifle shot nailed him on the back of his shoulder, the kinetic energy sending him to the ground and shaking his bones. He'd never taken fire from his own people before and now he knew why it was so warned against in training. He could barely hear or see anything anymore, the shock having disoriented the hell out of him.

The Achilus armor compensated though, and Aleron could feel the back of his head on fire as the extra sensory preceptors kicked in and he could _feel_ his way up the stairs, _smell_ the flowers to the left of him, and even _hear_ the boiling air of the gauss weaponry following him. But he also felt the pain in his limbs, the way his eyes seared from the vibrations the hit had given him.

He listened to his instinct and the amplified senses of the armor though, spinning, running up the stairs backwards and firing all at the same time. None of his shots connected for a kill, the arm mounted weapons designed for penetration, not for use against soft targets. Aiming for the arm or leg seemed the best choice, and already he'd crippled four of his own men.

All the specialized training he'd done was paying off, albeit only to perhaps save his life if the Atlanteans decided to spare him.

* * *

Sighting in on one of the bastards tracking them, Laura held the trigger for a five shot burst, putting down a pair of Olim with the stun bolts of the particle rifle. The rock she was using for cover then seemed to explode in a cloud of dust and shards, blinding and disorienting her.

It was like getting hit with an anti-material rifle round, and Laura realized they _had_ to keep running. She shook off the confusion and yelled. "_Come on! We can't wait for him!"_

Both Dan and Chuck acknowledged, and Chuck fired off a few more crazily aimed shots before turning and enacting a tactical retreat. Dan was a little more controlled, but Laura would still laugh at Chuck's high rising knees… that is _if_ she got outta here alive.

The entrance to the gateroom was undefended. Likely the Olim hadn't thought they'd get this far, even so, she and Dan took the lead quickly clearing each room, firing a shot whenever motion was heard or even felt. Several Olim technicians fell, stunned by the Particle weaponry's energy effects.

The DHD was up on top of a catwalk above the stargate, and quickly the three Lanteans took positions as Laura punched in Atlantis's address. They'd just about finished dialing when a loud clatter was heard above them, Laura instantly panicked as she recognized the feeling of the magnetic pinch weapon that had almost killed her before, and even worse, it was the same bitch firing and now running up the catwalk towards them. She didn't exactly know how she could tell, but Laura prepared to put her down for good as she flicked the rifle to overcharge mode.

* * *

Not her… anyone but her.

Aleron couldn't see her, he couldn't even know for a true fact whether it _was_ her, but deep down, it was only fitting.

Using the armor's enhanced strength, Aleron had closed the massive metal door to the Astria Porta hall and used a Trinium shard to seal it shut, at least for awhile.

It hurt tremendously, but after a moment's rest, Aleron could think clearly again as he removed his arm from the door where a spike of solid Trinium no bigger than his finger had penetrated the door, nailing it shut.

But now he could feel the tension in the next room, the silent screams of three minds, and the roar of fury, a passionate roar he'd heard before… something she'd copied from him ironically.

Carefully, Aleron aimed the weapon on the armor's forearm. She was wearing her armor, she'd survive the blow.

But she was his _sister_ dammit, and no matter what trouble or insanity she got into, he couldn't bring himself to harm Aquilina.

Aleron's arm trembling, he aimed a little to the right, and took out the support structure of the entire catwalk since the Astria Porta was already engaged.

* * *

Chuck had had some nasty falls in his life, He recalled once being so drunk, that he actually fell down Scarborough bluffs into the water. Of course, hitting the freezing cold water had sobered him up instantly, and his girlfriend at the time had the wherewithal to call an ambulance after she'd gotten her clothes on.

This wasn't anywhere near as bad, but still, landing on his ass, he knew he'd likely have to moon either Carson or Reyna just to be sure. "The hell happened!?"

His question went unanswered, as a pair of screams beside him became drowned out by the sound of metal clashing on metal rang out. He clawed himself up to his feet, seeing Laura and Dan nearby, already recovered from the fall.

Aleron was fighting that bitch, but _holy shit!_ They were going at it like it was Mortal Combat met Halo! Aleron ducked and swung with his leg, not even watching where his foot went, Aquilina jumped up and swung with her fist as she floated mid-air momentarily.

Neither shot connected, but moments later a sharp spike formed on the edge of Aquilina's elbow, and she moved to drive it into Aleron's face. The young man reacted and spun his body around the strike, using his own elbow spike to snap Aquilina to the side in a rolling motion.

Chuck didn't catch anymore, as Dan literally grabbed his collar after screaming into his wrist radio for Atlantis to drop the shield.

* * *

The Astria Porta was about to close, and Aleron couldn't risk Aquilina following him. He could feel her hatred, her feeling of betrayal as they fought. Aleron couldn't accept what might happen to her if she followed them.

But he didn't have time, only seconds remained until the Astria Porta would shut, and his escape would be gone. Aquilina was good, and their sparring sessions had built her instinct well. But Aleron wasn't above a cheap shot and right now, it was called for.

Aquilina had recovered from getting hit to the side, and she raised her arm to fire a slug of Trinium, Aleron reacted, and formed his own magnetic bubble in front of him, pushing his sensory unit to the limit, his brain boiling from the overuse.

It happened so fast Aleron wasn't sure how much time had passed, the slug Aquilina had fired came within inches of him, but the sharp reflex of magnetic forces pushed it back, and using his own magnetic pinch, he reflected it.

The slug was nowhere near the speed of a Gauss rifle, it would only disorient her and leave her confused while Aleron made his escape. It slammed into her torso and sent her back flying, obviously stunned from the surprising attack.

Aleron could feel his senses dulling, the onset of shock now clear. He was losing consciousness from the ferocity of the short battle and the damage to his senses. He stumbled forward towards the Porta, entering mere moments before it shut off.

The next thing he knew, he was in a marvelous place. The gate room of Atlantis was huge, so much space compared to what he was used to. The armor was hurting him too much now, and he stumbled forward onto his hands and knees, the liquid Trinium receding into the power pack on his shoulders and back.

_"Wait, wait! Don't shoot him!"_

Thankful that _someone_ was defending him in his weakened state, Aleron closed his eyes and tried to suck in air, but it hurt to even breathe. Falling to the floor, barely holding onto consciousness, Aleron simply thanked the Progenitors reflexively. Now forcing himself to look up, he saw a pair approaching him with Particle Weapons drawn; he recognized them both from Magna Secundus. _"Colonel Sheppard… Colonel Carter."_

The woman, Carter, moved closer with her weapon still drawn and her face angered. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Aleron thought about it, Aulus had never specifically stated what he was to do, that was one of the lessons he'd learned early on, to judge for yourself the task at hand and what to do about it. That individuality was one of the reasons he had reached the rank he did. _"I've come… to warn you…"_

Sheppard moved closer now and saw in how bad a shape the young man was. "Jesus. Get Carson up here now!"

With their weapons now holstered, a pair of burly looking guards now picked him up. It'd be nice to see Carson again, at least Aleron could be relatively sure that he wouldn't come to any harm.

* * *

"What'd I tell you?"

Sam sighed, this was _very_ disturbing and she didn't have time to deal with John's childishness. "Not now John, I'm _really_ not in the mood." She was glad that he remained silent, though she _was_ glad that he'd come down to watch with her as all the food the Olim had sent them was examined by Reyna for the poison Chuck had found.

"The Olim's gonna be okay. Doc says he's got some serious bruising and some internal damage, but nothing that rest and a few drugs won't cure."

Sam wasn't worried about the Olim. She was surprised, but the way things had happened, one single soldier wasn't about to take over Atlantis. "Has he said anything more?"

John shook his head, now groaning as Reyna tagged yet another crate as contaminated. "No, but he says he means us no harm and can even help us once he's back on his feet."

Sam pursed her lips, still coming to grips with what was going on. "I'm not sure I trust him. He might have gotten our people out, but it wouldn't be the first time a Trojan horse worked both sides against the middle."

John turned to Sam and gave her a curious glance. "What?"

Groaning, Sam knew she'd been too esoteric. "Never mind." She pushed the thought aside and turned her head to John. "Any luck contacting Larrin?"

John shook his head. "Nope, she said she'd be back in five days, that was yesterday. She wouldn't tell me where she took the _Navras_ and our last communiqué was on the other side of the galaxy."

Sam sighed heavily and moved over to a nearby bench to sit down. Things were falling apart right in front of her and she didn't know what to do. "She's pulling away, John… she doesn't talk to me anymore… she hasn't really talked to me since Christmas,"

They both remained silent, John standing to the side of the bench while Sam rubbed the exhaustion on her face. Both knew why Larrin had left, why she'd insisted on silently going back with her people on ships, drifting in the cold of space, even if just for a little while. John kept his voice low. "Well, I'd offer you dinner, but I kinda lost my appetite."

Sam winced at the bad joke. John was quickly becoming infamous for them, but Sam appreciated the thought. "God, you'd think people who prided themselves on their superiority would be above something like this."

John grunted. "Ancient, Lantean, Alterran, or from Melmack, I've learned not to trust anyone who thinks they're better."

Looking up, Sam mused. "Melmack? You don't like Alf?"

Shrugging, John muttered. "Couldn't think of another alien planet."

Sam had to chuckle. She couldn't help but think of all the planets Chuck would have been able to list off the top of his head. "You'd think we never even noticed that we're halfway across the universe."

Sitting down now, John put an arm around Sam and pulled her into a closer hug. Sam scrunched her shoulders together, mildly uncomfortable. "Come on, we can talk in your office." She had to give him credit, he'd gotten to know when she wanted to be alone, and when she wanted to be alone with company.

* * *

"I dunno, I'd make some Canned Heat joke about dancing all my problems away, but I think this is a bit more serious."

Sometimes, Laura really just wanted to smack the fun out of Chuck. But she knew his high spirit was at an all time low, otherwise he would have made the joke. "I know how you feel, just waiting here to see what they do is killin' me."

Off to the side, Dan was recounting the tale to the rest of his team, taking extra care to mention all the adoring fans of Dan Drake there were among the Olim. He was just about to get reamed by Alicia when the gate activated and Chuck called out the incoming wormhole.

* * *

"So… this is what you look like."

Aleron was comfortable he had to admit. The narcotic drugs in his veins were a little primitive compared to the sensory dampeners his own people used, but it still didn't take away the high he felt. "I'm beautiful, I know I am."

Carson gave a scoffing laugh. "Normally I'd disagree, but I don't think I've seen this many women eyeing a man since Captain Drake came in for a full physical."

Chuckling to himself, Aleron drunkenly turned to Carson. "I _am_ sorry for what happened. But it was necessary… had to make sure…"

Pushing him back down to the bed, Carson shook his head. "There's no need. The others might not trust you yet, but I do."

Aleron sighed, he still felt naked without his armor, but at least he might not be alone despite being the only Olim on the base.

* * *

"Incoming wormhole. It's the Olim!"

Sam steeled herself. With John behind her, this was all going to be her. She found that despite the steps they'd taken in their relationship, he still managed to acquiesce to her leadership. He'd argue in private, and she might even take his advice, but in public he deferred to her whenever it was needed.

And right now, as Menalus's face appeared on the screen with a slight smirk, Sam knew that she had to remain strong. "Menalus, I'm a little surprised you've got the gall to call us after what happened. I wouldn't suggest coming through, our gate has a shield that prevents anything from materializing on our end unless we allow it."

Menalus narrowed his eyes. "What have I done to merit such hostility? I thought you insisted that as a race, your humanity was tempered by civility. I would think…"

Sam barked back. "We know about the poison, Menalus! You tried to kidnap my people! Do you honestly expect me to talk civilly after _that!?"_

Not losing his grin, Menalus calmly explained. "I am, and from your perspective I have lost. In truth I am merely stalled. It does not matter whether it takes days, months, years…. Atlantis is the rightful home of my people. We _are_ the children of the Alterra, their rightful heirs. And not even trained monkeys like you will be able to keep it from us, or prevent us from reclaiming this galaxy and taking our rightful place alongside our progenitors."

Sam took a few deep breaths, and realized just how grotesque this was. Daniel had mentioned that some of the Olim were very loyal to their beliefs, almost zealots, but this took the cake. "If you're even _half_ a smart as you think you are, you won't come anywhere near us from now on. I'm giving every man under my command explicit orders to shoot on sight, whether it's a person or a ship. And you have _no_ idea how powerful we are."

Narrowing his eyes, Menalus nodded. "Nor you us, and truthfully, I only do this because you will not openly assist us. You insist upon your tired and slow ways, all the while the Shade grow stronger, more unstoppable."

Finally John piped in, barking with a calm tone. "Get it in your thick skull, Menalus! Even with Atlantis you don't stand a chance against them!"

Deadpan, Menalus replied. "I know."

It was a few moments before Sam spoke again. "Then why…"

Interrupting, Menalus explained. "Because the Shade will not be defeated in my time. I am a patient man despite what you may think. Your Doctor Jackson was more than willing to tell me all I needed to know, and I know that you have nowhere else to go." He leaned in towards the camera. "Atlantis will catapult my people's technology to the point where we stand a chance, and my descendants will look back in reverence upon me and my people, the liberators of the throne of the Alterra."

Sam turned away for a moment, then flexed her fist and turned to the screen. She hardened her features and spoke plainly. "You'll die before you step foot on this base again."

Everyone around her was shocked, they'd never seen Sam so openly aggressive in their lives and it was frightening. John seemed to feed off it though and stood behind her shoulder, a menacing presence that only strengthened her own resolve.

With a calm face and tone, Menalus finished. "We shall see."

The image ended, and a few moments later the stargate deactivated.

Sam bowed her head and cursed softly, but before she could do more than swear once, Chuck called out. "Colonel!"

She turned along with John. In a way she wished Larrin were here, it would give her a wider area of what to expect from the people on Atlantis and her refugee colonies. "What is it, Chuck?"

Chuck motioned Sam over and pointed to the screen. "There was a transmission piggybacked onto that signal, we just got a whole archive full of information."

Sam furrowed her brow and looked at it. She tried to ignore the suddenly angry Travelers, as well as Dan, who had remained in the control room joining in with them. She'd given up trying to control the man, he'd become a loose cannon and Sam's only hope was to at least steer that cannon into incoming fire. She knew in a pinch he'd revert to Soldier Dan… just like she was reverting into Soldier Sam now.

That's when she felt John's hand on her shoulder. Nothing too intimate, they certainly hadn't gone to that extreme yet, but Sam still felt wrong taking comfort from him in such a crisis. She gave him a stony glance, and saw that he wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

Rather than cause a scene, Sam simply ignored his hand; this was more important right now. "What is it?"

Chuck tapped a few keys, and an encryption code came up. "Aw dammit, it's password protected."

John scoffed softly. "The hell? So someone sent us a secret transmission and we can't even figure out what it is?"

Sam had already figured out how to open the file, and she sighed as she looked over to Dan and Nevas, who were quietly discussing the best way to take an Olim down. "Captain, Nevas, I think we should bring our guest up here."

* * *

Aleron sighed, and he spoke into the communication panel to unlock the file. "Where Shade is but respite from the sun."

A few of the Atlanteans around him were a little confused, but he wasn't about to answer where that phrase came from. On the screen, Aulus's face appeared. "_Greetings Atlantis. Hello Aleron."_

Quietly and under his breath, Aleron mused. "Hello, Father."

_"As you no doubt know by now, Menalus has launched an insidious attack against your people. I have no doubt that you could destroy us all if you so chose to. I am not nearly the fool you may consider me given my actions._

_But I underestimated the zealotry of the other Olim houses. I had hoped something like this could have been avoided. So instead I now offer my alliance in secret, in the form of my greatest warrior and personal escort, Aleron."_

Everyone turned to Aleron; he didn't look much older than his early twenties so it definitely seemed strange. Aleron ignored it all and continued watching.

_"I can only assume he is standing there with you now, or else you would not be listening to this. He is yours now, he will follow any orders your leadership give up to and including killing any Olim that threaten Atlantis_

_I make no apology for the actions of my people, we are desperate, we are proud, we are…" _He began to chuckle to himself. _"As you would put it, we are human."_

That really drove home just what was going on. Sam and John looked to each other and knew the next few weeks were going to be hell. Larrin would definitely want to launch a first strike, but in an odd mirror of the IOA back on Earth, only a small fraction of the entire population actually knew what was going on and were their enemies.

Aulus continued. _"I will not be able to communicate with you openly for quite some time, but you have no fear of an immediate attack. Aleron's escape with your people has caused quite a stir and the Telarus and Junor houses have much to answer for. My people are coming undone and I must devote my attention to matters here._

_I can only hope and pray that my actions will sway your hand, I do not care about your technology, I do not care that you can likely destroy my entire culture with but the whims of the Alterra's technology. I simply hope that all I have done for you, all I have sacrificed in an attempt to win your trust have proven effective._

_Aleron will remain with you. He will tell you anything you need to know. His armor has been modified to only accept his own genetic coding, but you are free to examine it. It will take time for me to rebuild the potential for peace between us, Atlantis. My people scream for blood, yet many scream for peace. I doubt I will ever see any of you again in person, but should the progenitors see fit, my actions today will prove to be the salvation of both our peoples… and this galaxy's._

_Farewell, Aleron. Should we never meet again, know that we will see each other once more, where shade is but respite from the sun."_

No one said anything as the video shut off, but across from Aleron where Sam stood, she couldn't help but notice how Aleron's blue eyes glistened, with the pure emotional response of a human.

* * *

**Teaser for Episode 19 – Inevitable**

**John Sheppard:** Ready?

**Samantha Carter:** Why is it that you always ask me that right before you're about to do something…?

**John Sheppard:** Risky? Unintelligent? Stupid?

**Samantha Carter**: You could say that.

**John Sheppard:** Because then you can't complain that I didn't warn you.


	46. Inevitable First Quarter

**Episode 19 – Inevitable (1/4) Part 1 of 3**

302 days in Hoag's Object

* * *

**John Sheppard: **"Ready?"

**Samantha Carter:**"Why is it that you always ask me that right before you do something…?"

**John Sheppard: **"Risky? Impulsive? Stupid?"

**Samantha Carter:** "You could say that."

**John Sheppard:** "Because then you can't complain that I didn't warn you."

* * *

The chime on the door was high pitched, almost like a phone ring. Sam groaned softly and muttered through the speaker as she rolled over and tried to drown it out. When the door chimed again, Sam grimaced and sat up. "Who is it?"

_"It's John."_

The first and last person she wanted to see now. She took longer than she knew she should, but eventually sighed. "Come in."

The door's sensor detected her words and unlocked. John stepped in; he saw Sam all cuddled up in her bed, the lights off. "Sam."

Sam curled up in her bed. Dammit, she was trying to sleep! He should be glad that she was taking this time! "What do you want John?"

Silently John moved over, sat on the side of the bed, and put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "I heard you went to bed early. Knowing you that means you're either sick, or crazy."

Sam gave a soft chuckle and used a hand to bat John's reassuring hand away. " How about sick of being crazy?" Seeing him simply smile, she became serious. "John, I just spent the last 2 weeks working with Radek and Carson over this credit system Laura implemented. I'm taking tonight and tomorrow off so I can _sleep_ for once."

John snickered, and continued rubbing Sam's shoulder and back. She was squirming softly now, obviously enjoying it. "Well… just wanted to make sure you were okay. Haven't had much time to talk."

Detecting the gentle rebuke, Sam bowed her head and sighed emphatically. "We've been busy… how's Aleron doing?"

Shrugging, and lying back on the bed alongside Sam, John nodded. "Okay I guess… He's told us whatever he can on the kind of training the Olim soldiers get, some basics on their tactics and technology. Ronon and Daniel are getting the rest. Seems he was the equivalent of a Colonel back there."

Sam scrunched over, if she was going to talk instead of sleep, she'd at least be comfortable. John quickly pulled her into a little cuddle as he listened to her. "I hope you realize I was about five seconds from unconsciousness." Giving her another gentle squeeze, Sam found she didn't really care anymore. "How _old_ is he? He looks like a kid."

John shrugged. "Won't say, says he doesn't know me well enough."

Pulling John's torso closer, Sam used it as a pillow enjoying the warmth of his body. "We don't know him either." Sensing how close yet mildly awkward this little embrace was, Sam changed the subject even though she was still uncomfortable about it. "John?"

Turning down to her, John mused. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry I haven't… well.. we haven't exactly had time for each other."

John nodded softly and rubbed Sam's shoulders as he hugged her. "I know… it's okay… you're right, I haven't had time either with all the Travelers and even Settlers asking for weapons and training."

Rubbing her face, Sam sat up completely and now put her head on his shoulder. She whispered softly as John leaned over to give her a small kiss. "_Can you stay?"_

John shook his head. He wanted to stay, even if it was just to feel her next to him, but it was still early in the night and he had things to do. "Can't. Promised Leese I'd give 'em a sparring lesson. Seems Aleron kicked her ass even without his suit and she sent him to Ronon to learn a thing or two."

Sam snickered, and then shoved John away from here. "Then out! I haven't had a good night's sleep in months and you're distracting me."

Pulling her close again, John gave her a few soft kisses along her neck, making her shiver. He kept his voice low. "_Whaddya say we do something tomorrow? Just you and me?"_

Sam let herself fall into John's arms again. Okay he wasn't going to spend the night, but a few moments were better than nothing. "Mmm.. okay… what'd you have in mind?" They hadn't gone on a 'date' in almost 2 weeks. The last one being dinner and a movie with everyone else so they didn't have much time with each other. During the day, it was all dealing with the fallout of the Olim betrayal, ensuring no more Travelers decided to leave Atlantis, as well as the dozen other projects underway, not the least of which was studying technology to survive in this galaxy.

John had been equally busy, mostly training Travelers in tactics and occasionally jumping in and sparring with some of them. The Travelers had long since been using cardio and Chuck Norris's "bowflex" type equipment to stay in shape, they _had_ to given their former lifestyle. But it never occurred to John that he'd have to spend so much time with Carson and Reyna to set up exercise programs and ensure no-one got hurt. That didn't even include the two hundred plus actual recruits from the Travelers whom Dan and Alicia were personally overseeing.

John had responsibility of it all, and while there wasn't much paperwork, the seven-day week they used only gave a person 2 days off, during which John was usually called upon to fix something, help with something, or even deal with an emergency such as policing duties. "Oh don't worry… just pack some outdoorsy clothes and maybe a bikini."

Sam raised her eyebrows in horror. "_Maybe_ a bikini?"

Taking her words, John turned it around. "Oh, you swim au natural? That's fine, we'll work it out when we're there." He leaned over, gave her a little kiss good night and started to leave.

Sam wasn't about to let that happen though and barked. "Hey! Next time you wanna interrupt my sleep there better be chocolate!"

* * *

"How much for this?"

The older Traveler woman looked at the woolen sweater and nodded. "20 credits."

Rafaela had at first been confused over the credit system, but now 2 weeks into its inception, she wanted to spend her first 'paycheck' on the various doodads and stuff that she hadn't had access to before. The buildings on the North Pier had been re-purposed from their living quarters and storage areas into a full-fledged Bazaar, both Travelers and Settlers coming to trade their wares. The hallways were bustling, almost all six thousand remaining Pegasus natives were taking part of this on a rotating basis.

Rafaela did feel sorry for Chuck and Laura though; they'd neglected to realize how busy Stargate Operations would be and were quickly 'hiring' new staff to keep on a rotating shift. Whether they liked it or not, there was no 'night' on Atlantis, only differing numbers of merchants open at any given time.

Back to her potential purchase… "Hmm…" She eyed the wool sweater, it was colored red and looked quite warm and cozy. She turned and motioned to Dusty and Reyna. "Hey come here!" She held the sweater above her chest and smiled. "Whaddya think?"

Both Reyna and Dusty looked to each other. Their casual clothes were quite different, Dusty in a dark blue hoodie, bottomed out by a pair of worn denims, while Reyna was looking rather tempting in her low cut leather top which covered a white cotton shirt and loose black pants. Dusty kept her voice just a little north of snarky. "Please, you look enough like a librarian with that hair."

Her hand immediately going to her full volume hair, Rafaela whined. "What's wrong with my hair!?"

Reyna rolled her eyes and sighed. These earthers had some strange customs, but she found that this _'shopping'_ was actually pretty enjoyable. "Maybe we can do something about that. A friend of mine said she was going to be selling her cosmetics."

Rafaela quickly realized that despite never having played with dolls, Reyna still enjoyed preening something up… and unfortunately, she was going to be the target tonight.

* * *

"Good _god,_ what happened to you?"

Aleron smiled sarcastically at Daniel. "I lashed when I should have blocked. Ronon was kind enough to teach me the lesson." He rubbed the rather large bruise on the side of his head and shook his vision clear. "This Bantos Rod martial art is similar to the Saber Dance." Accepting a damp cloth from Teyla, both Aleron and Ronon sat down at the table where Daniel and Teyla were getting the evening meal ready. Teyla looked at Ronon and yet again shuddered. It was so odd to see him with short hair instead of the typical wild man style he sported. The beard was the only thing making him _'Ronon'._

Daniel mused softly as Aleron held his hands together for a moment, then went back to his head. "Saber Dance? I'm guessing it's not three tigers on top of a ball dancing."

All three of the non-earth born humans looked at him like he was insane.

* * *

Gritting her teeth, Alicia fought to keep a good amount of control over this moment. She was here to patch things up… punching Dan in the face wasn't going to solve anything. She'd already been standing here for two minutes and this was getting ridiculous.

He was alone, she'd gotten Chuck to check the life signs monitors. Then again, she recalled that James Bond movie where they checked the heat signature and it kept on growing and growing… Alicia shook her head clear of the image. She was here to patch up their _professional_ relationship, a _personal_ relationship was not something she was comfortable with just now, not when she had her team to take care of.

That didn't mean she didn't want to be close to the people remaining from Earth, it wasn't like any more were coming anytime soon. Alicia couldn't help but feel just a little resentment towards Dan though. He'd started out as a buddy, a comrade. Then after that last night in Pegasus, they'd grown apart. He went to the Travelers and she… She was hanging out with John.

Then the promotion, and the responsibility. It just wasn't prudent, there were too many issues for something like that. She wasn't in a position to try something with a man likely to have a dozen STDs.

_Yeah, that's it!_ Alicia hated the idea of STDs, that's what she was going to latch onto. Dan probably had all sorts of nasties brewing under there… yeah… Yeah that HAD to be true…. _Right?_

* * *

"You think those guys back on Atlantis know what they're missing?"

Kevin chuckled. Mila certainly was enjoying her tenure as chief engineer on the Daedalus. He yawned before replying as they lounged about in, perhaps symbolically, the lounge the Travelers had set up. "I doubt it. Look at 'em, a bunch of ground pounders. Nothin' beats floatin' out in the middle of nowhere, not having a care, not even worrying about food because you just picked up two dozen cow like creatures that fry up nice with some pink flower herbs."

Mila giggled, and yawned as she stretched her arms. "You're just happy cuz Katty came by."

Kevin's ears became red. Dammit, wasn't this girl 16 years old? "Maybe, but you were pretty happy too."

Mila shook her head idly as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I'm not the one having sex with her."

Groaning loudly, Kevin held his hands up as he got up. "Awww! I don't need to hear that! Jeez, where you picking that up from?"

Shrugging, Mila sat down on the end of the table in the conference room they were watching out into the stars from. "Last time we were on Atlantis, I uhh…" She held her mouth. Saying the name Chuck was a bit sacrilege on the Daedalus. "I got some movies and well, when there's nothing to do here, I watch 'em."

Kevin grumbled softly, and then looked at his watch. Another few hours and the crew would be rested enough to start the trip to the Settler colony a half-day's trip from Atlantis. "Eugh, remind me to get you a copy of The Three Stooges. Least then it'll be _somewhat_ clean humor."

* * *

"You're serious?"

Alicia didn't let her apprehension show. Dammit, why'd he have to come to the door without a shirt on? "I don't know why, but you're acting differently towards me. And I'm willing to admit that maybe I'm being a little too bitchy, but can you blame me? You're being a real bastard to me, shutting me out and not even saying why."

It was harsh, it was direct, and Dan had to admit, he'd have expected nothing less from Alicia. "You _have_ been a bitch. And you're right, I _have_ been a bastard." He looked away from her for a second, then muttered. "The difference is you're not a bitch at heart, but you know I _am_ a bastard."

Shaking her head, Alicia decided to make this clear. "It's exactly because I _don't_ believe that that I came here, and I was hoping you weren't cock-headed enough to fuck this up." _God _she was pissed. She hoped slipping into that street vernacular Dan was famous for would help to make him understand. Memories of Miami clubbing came to mind.

Dan simply raised an eyebrow to her. "_Cock-headed?_ The fuck is that?"

Exasperated, Alicia snarked back. "You irritate me so much with this shit I have to _make up words! _Now answer. Will you come with me tomorrow or not?"

Taking his time, Dan examined the situation. Sure he'd love to go and have something akin to a party, and since there were supposedly hot springs on the mainland, he might even get to see Alicia in a bikini. That would be worth the entire headache in some ways.

In other ways, Dan almost didn't want Alicia to know why he was so pissed off. It had annoyed him for a long time but he'd kept silent, the good little soldier. It wasn't until after the whole fiasco at Magna Secundus that he really saw that he was more than just a toy soldier, he was a variable to the people around him, nobody knew exactly what he was going to do or why. Sheppard had taught him that toy soldiers can bleed, and toy soldiers can make other stuff bleed too.

They were paying him again at least, more than most because he was devoting a lot of time to breaking down the mental barriers of the Travelers who'd signed up. Marine Training put USAF training to shame at least in ground tactics; these Travelers who wanted to be Marines would have to endure _everything_ he'd endured in basic, _and more._

And loath as he was to admit it, he could use Alicia's support. "Fine, I'll go."

Alicia breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded idly to him. "We leave early morning tomorrow. Get some sleep." She turned and walked away. The hard part was over, now came the unbelievably aggravating part.

* * *

"What is this?" Laura was honestly confused; this was by far the _last_ thing she'd been expecting. "Don't tell me you stole all this stuff."

Chuck gave Laura an annoyed glare. "I'll have you know I paid for every bit of it! This damn credit system is killin' me!"

Laura looked around at the dozen or so candles, the fine dining on the table, and even more, the music playing softly on the stereo. "Jesus Chuck… did you spend everything you had on this?"

Looking around his quarters, Chuck was just glad that he could actually get stuff now instead of requisitioning it from Larrin and Sheppard and having not live through their odd stares. What could a Canadian male need with a brush and cosmetics case anyway? "Not like I can use it anywhere else."

Whimpering softly, taken completely by surprise at the unbelievably nice gesture, Laura moved over and pulled the smiling Chuck into an embrace. "Awww… you're such a sweetheart. Thank you." She moved her head and gave Chuck a nice wet kiss on the cheek, "And yes. You're totally getting your brains screwed out tonight." She loved being direct, it had been amusing the first few times when Chuck had played it off, but his blushing cheeks had said it all.

Chuck simply smiled, if one went with good intentions towards the universe, it tended to pay one back just as nicely. "Come on, let's at least eat first."

* * *

_"Oh. My. God."_ Rafaela looked at herself in the mirror with both rapt horror, and odd fascination. "I look… _sooo_ different."

Dusty grinned mischievously and nodded as Claudita, Reyna's friend, finished with the hair cut. Claudita put a few finishing touches to the hair's bottom length, separating a few groups of strands to make a more stylish look. "There we go. I thought that'd look nice. First time I've ever cut a 'bob cut' though."

Using one hand to push at it gently, Rafaela checked out every angle she could in the mirror. "It's… Wow…"

Reyna chuckled to herself and then sighed. "Alright, now you look all prettied up, what do we do now?"

Dusty shrugged as she handed Claudita her tablet with the authorization for a credit transfer, payment for Rafaela's makeover. "Nevas said there was a little party on the pier. Know anything about it, Rey?

Groaning softly, Reyna nodded. "He's only asked twenty times. It's so annoying when all a man wants is to dock his ship into your bay… A lot of people are going though, might be fun."

Rafaela shrugged around a bit hesitantly. "I dunno… can't we just find Leesha and Danny and do something ourselves?"

Seeing that Rafaela was still anxious over hanging out with anyone other than people she knew, Dusty motioned to Reyna. "Hey Rey, think you could find us some drinks? Little send off?"

Seeing that Dusty was asking for privacy despite the crowded marketplace, Reyna nodded. "Sure, back in a minute. Cocktails okay with you?"

Dusty nodded. "Sure."

Alone now, Rafaela groaned softly already knowing what was coming. "I don't like it, Dusty. I'm not… _comfortable _going there."

Shaking her head, Dusty reassured Rafaela. "Babe, I'm not saying we're gonna go pick up some guys and teach 'em a thing or two about biology, that's what monkeys on Discovery Channel are for." Rafaela snickered. Dusty must have been in a good mood to be so chipper. "All I'm saying is we go… have a couple drinks, maybe tease a few guys, then go back to our quarters and sleep _alone._" She was adamant about the last bit.

Rafaela shrugged. "Well… maybe.. I can call Dan and see if…"

Interrupting her, Dusty spoke in a hushed tone. "Listen… I know you like Dan and all… but unless you're gonna do something about it, you can't live the rest of your life with him hanging around every corner. Not like he'd want more than a jump in the sack but that's your business."

Rafaela felt insulted by Dusty's words, but at the same time she did realize it was the truth. Dusty had evidently gotten past the thing with Ronon so maybe Rafaela had to learn from that example. "Well he's… just… I trust him you know? I trust maybe six people in the universe right now. You guys… Daniel… Laura… Chuck…" Counting again, Rafaela added it up. "Okay, okay, I trust pretty much everyone from Earth and one or two others… but that's it… I'm not…"

Dusty motioned her head down and almost snarled. "Look, Ella. I'm not going to push you that hard. But you _need_ to start having some fun on your own or else you're gonna end up like Radek, crazy ass…."

Interrupting her, Reyna came back with a small tray of frosty drinks. "There we go, a little stiffener as Dan would say." Seeing the scowl on Dusty's face, Reyna shrugged. "What?"

* * *

Preparing his backpack, Carson sighed contentedly. Reyna had already said yes and in less than 12 hours, he'd be sitting on the pier, fishing rod in hand, with whoever he could convince to come and enjoy the relaxation fishing offered.

The Travelers had taken to sending out a jumper with C4 bombs, dynamiting the sea to get fish for food. It was wrong on _so_ many levels that Carson couldn't believe that Carter and Larrin were okay with it. Just because they had the labs to make a cheap copy of C4 Cadman knew how to make… it was unsportsmanlike!

No matter, he'd gotten ten different kinds of bait. No matter what fish or sea creature lived near Atlantis's waters in this planet, or rather moon on the ass end of the universe ate, Carson would still have fun.

* * *

_"They're coming."_

Radek turned, he could swear he heard it again. "Who?"

Alone in the ZPM room, Radek had just adjusted his glasses and looked to the console where the latest projects on construction in Atlantis were taking place. The hospital was almost done, but with a lack of equipment, most of the rooms had become triage centers, devoid of all but beds.

This voice had been around for weeks now. At first Radek thought he was going crazy, but right off the bat, it was telling him the right things, the kind of things that had to be done, the kind of things he knew he had to do.

He didn't want anyone to know, but there were a dozen secret projects he was working on, too difficult and too obscure for anyone else to know. Not even Rafaela, and certainly not Colonel Carter. It was too hopeful, and too likely to fail to be used.

_"They're coming."_

The voice again, Radek merely pushed it out of his mind, wiped his nose on his sleeve, and got back to work as he hummed a cheerful little song he'd heard as a child, four quick little notes alternating making a delightful melody.


	47. Inevitable Second Quarter

"What is that?" Teyla carried Torren in her arms; the little boy now almost a year old cooed and seemed quite content listening to the melody. "Daniel did you leave your stereo on again?"

Holding up his hands in self-defense, Daniel shook his head. "Does it sound like something I'd listen to?" Turning around from his position at his desk where he'd been going over notes on the Olim houses, Daniel followed the sound of the woodwind instrument. He followed it right outside, with Teyla on his heels.

To his surprise, Daniel saw Aleron sitting by the tree outside the little hut Daniel and Teyla used as a home. He leaned against the tree and gently played a cheerful melody, several notes, all in perfect harmony.

Teyla realized who it was, and moving over sat across from Aleron, Daniel did the same and waited until Aleron was finished his little song before speaking. "That's impressive. Not many of our people on Atlantis can play instruments, at least not like that."

Aleron chuckled softly and sighed as he looked to the flute. "It's made from the wood of the strongest tree on my Homeworld. A single tree can tower as tall as some of the building on Atlantis, the richness of the planet feeding it." He flicked the little flute around his fingers. "It's a child's toy. Something I picked up on my way out."

Both Daniel and Teyla could see that Aleron wasn't telling the whole story, but they weren't desperate to hear it. Teyla mused softly as Torren fussed. "Do your people have children's songs? Perhaps one to help sooth Torren?"

Smiling, Aleron nodded. "Of course, let me think…" A few moments of contemplation, and he put the flute to his lips again.

Daniel listened carefully to the music, but he also watched, Aleron was hiding a lot, he still hadn't even told him his full name. It had taken awhile to convince everyone else that Syntarchis was just his rank, not his actual name. But for now, Aleron seemed to be coping more than anything else. Training with Ronon, trading stories of their respective planets with Daniel and Teyla… though he seemed to be distanced from most everyone else. Daniel only wished that Sam and John were more open to him instead of just sending him here while his armor was studied back on Atlantis.

No. Aleron reminded Daniel of someone, someone else who had defected and was willing to do whatever it took…someone else who hid their emotions beneath control beneath things like the lovely and calming tones of this little toy flute.

* * *

Waking up had become a pretty common thing on Atlantis. Sure, she didn't feel the hum of the engines, the cold hollowness of the ship around her, but she'd gotten used to it… and Larrin kinda didn't like that anymore.

She felt different, almost as if she had lost purpose. Who was she kidding, she _had_ lost purpose. The Council was a joke. People followed her orders just because they usually agreed with the Earthers…

Their choice of music to wake up to was strange though. She quickly tapped her headset and began to curse. "_Control room! What the hell is this music!?"_

One of the technicians who'd quickly become quite good with Atlantis's systems, Presjon, replied. "_Sorry?"_

"There's music playing in my room!_ LOUDLY!"_

Presjon seemingly took a minute to check, a few seconds passed and finally the music ended. _"Hmm. This is odd. Looks like someone combined your wake up alarm with the city's speaker system. Only your room was affected, but the computer says something called "Rule Britannia" just ended."_

Whatever it was, it was the mark of Chuck's death sentence the next time Larrin saw him.

* * *

"A flight suit? John what are…?" Suddenly realizing what John was inviting her to, Sam became just a little giddy. "You wanna take it out for a joyride? What are you, _nuts?!_ It's untested!"

John shrugged as he tossed Sam one of the flight suits he'd appropriated from Marks on his last visit to Atlantis. "We're the best ones to test it, aren't we? We're both pilots, you helped build the damn thing. 'Sides, not like I trust Leese with it, she'd probably get lost in the ice field up there."

Sam snickered, and then relented as she looked at the suit. The old _Daedalus_ patch had been taken off. All that was left was the _'DarkStar Titan'_ patch on the shoulder. "Alright, gimme a few minutes to change and I'll be right out."

John gave Sam a suggestive eyebrow raise and was rewarded with a chuckle. He stretched his arms, and was then surprised by the door chiming. Curious as to who'd be looking for him this early in the morning, John opened the door and was surprised to see Carson. "Doc! Uhh damn, I didn't miss an appointment, did I?"

Carson chuckled. "Oh, no lad. Since most of us have the day off today and the Travelers are in charge, I was actually wondering if ya'd like to go fishin' with me."

"Fishing? I dun…" Unbidden, a harsh flash of memory crossed John's mind, and instantly his demeanor changed. "Uhhh I mean…Yeah…yeah…" Shaking his vision from the flash, which seemed quite strange as he could have sworn he was golfing and hanging out with Ronon that day…not talking to a woman… "Yeah I'll…I'll stop by…" He put both hands on the bridge of his nose impulsively, unsure of what to do now. "Where? Sorry. Where'll you be?"

Carson gave John a curious glance "You alright, John? Am I…_interrupting_ something?"

A wave of emotion swept over John, and he had to get out of this conversation as fast as possible. "You staying on Atlantis or going to the mainland?" He said it fast, almost begging Carson for the answer.

Carson nodded. "I'll be on the west pier, facing away from the sun y'know? Rey'll be there too so we'll have a little crowd."

John nodded and took a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah…I'll make sure to swing by for a bit…catch ya later, Carson."

Carson chuckled at the unintentional pun, and moved off without realizing how inadvertently he'd just dredged up one of John's repressions. That day was forever etched in John's memory, and that would have been bad enough, but now feeling a totally different and much more intense wave of emotion, John found himself sitting on the bed, his hands covering his face as he struggled to breathe properly.

He stayed like that for a few minutes, and that's how Sam found him when she exited the bathroom in the green flight suit. "Y'know, I never liked how these flight suits got so tight around my…" Seeing John on the bed, his face in his hands, Sam instantly knew something was wrong. "John? _John, what's wrong?"_ She moved over and crouched before him, pulling his hands away from his face.

John was still actively controlling his breathing, not exactly panting, but not exactly breathing normally either. _"I don't even like fishing."_

A little surprised, Sam muttered instinctively. "Well…sometimes it's not the fish that matter, it's the company." A moment of memory flashed for her, but just as quickly she focused on John again just as she knew he would her. "John…what happened?"

Sighing softly, John wiped his eyes of the moisture building up. If only he'd…John winced hard. God, if he didn't miss Rodney so much he would kill him twice for the aggravation he'd given him. "It's… a long story, but I'm gonna have to make a little pitstop before we go." He looked up at Sam and pursed his lips. "Come with me? Just for a little while?"

Unsure of where they were going, just knowing that John was asking for her support, Sam nodded and leaned forward to hug him, now realizing that something had affected him and he'd tell her in his own time…which given all they'd been through, was getting to be shorter and shorter. "Of course."

* * *

"What'sa matter with you? Haven't seen you around anywhere lately."

Larrin looked up from the tablet. God she hated this. Assigning new living quarters, handling work crews, all while trying to coordinate her own research and development projects while at the same time, going over these reports from the Traveler Captains was not conducive to her sanity. Her rude awakening was by _far_ the straw that threatened to break her camel's back. "Fuck off Nevas. I'm _really_ not in the mood."

The older Traveler snorted and sat down across from her, both in Sam's office which Larrin shared on occasion. "Talk about delirium." Seeing Larrin give him an angry face, Nevas explained. "The hell are you doing here, Larrin? You weren't put in charge of the council to ground your ass and stock up _fat._"

Insulted, Larrin scowled at her old friend. "Okay, I'm serious. If you _don't_ shut up I'm gonna stun you and give you a nice hard kick to the crotch… maybe not even in that order."

Unafraid, Nevas shook his head. "Larrin, vent the shit and screw landing. Sheppard's been training me and I can do this just as good as you. You need to be out there, you were _born_ to live out there."

Still angry, but unwilling to simply hurt Nevas, Larrin clenched her teeth and looked away from him. "_I know."_

* * *

"Eugh, remind me never to drink again."

Dusty chuckled at Rafaela's groaning as she got up off the couch. "You had three drinks! At least you woke up here, and not somewhere you didn't know. Remind me to tell you a few stories."

As hungover as she was despite her light drinking, Rafaela still snickered a little. "God… I've heard so many but…"

"But what?"

Shrugging, Rafaela replied. "I was too busy in school. Gosh, I never even had a boyfriend till my junior year of university."

To that, Dusty raised her eyebrows and handed Rafaela a towel. "You can tell me all about it _after_ you take a shower and get changed. You _stink_." Pushing a brush through her own freshly showered hair, Dusty giggled as Rafaela gave her the finger. The woman might be a little stuffy and work too much, but she was learning.

* * *

"Colonels! Glad you could make it!"

John shifted uncomfortably. He hated just sitting down and doing nothing but this had to be done. There was no other way around it. "I told you, Carson. Call me John."

Lightening the mood, Reyna who sat alongside Carson with a fishing rod of her own quipped as her feet dangled. "I've got no problem calling you John. Hi, Sam!" She waved to Sam who snickered at Reyna's easy going nature.

Reyna reminded Sam of Vala on occasion except more professional in a way. "Hi, Reyna, how're the fish biting?"

Reyna made a disappointed noise with her throat. "Nothing yet. And _Carson_ here won't let me just throw a fishing charge."

John sat down, and began to assemble his fishing rod he'd borrowed from Chuck. "Fishing charge?"

Carson muttered. "Think a chunk of C4 on the end of a fishing line. I know we're still trying to get enough food for everyone, but it's nowhere near as relaxing as this."

Reyna reeled in her line, and pouted as yet another piece of seaweed got caught on the hook. "As healthy as it is, I'm _not_ becoming a vegetarian, Carson. I may win the 'who can collect the most' contest, but no. ."

Sam laughed at the odd moment, it was true, fishing really _was_ the company, and despite John remaining quiet, she could see that for some reason, just being here was helping him relax. Sam could swear she saw a weight lift up off his shoulders. "You ever fish before, John?"

Shrugging, John finished assembling the rod and prepared to cast. "Wish I had."

Seeing how he cast the line off the lower dock of Atlantis, the water level just about five feet below them, Sam oddly wondered what his answer meant.

* * *

"These Wraith…are they still…_alive_?"

Ronon shrugged. "Maybe. Don't know for a fact."

Aleron wiped his forehead, still bruised from the hit last night, but a nice cold steak had lowered the swelling severely. "They sound quite formidable. Their ships are as large as Atlantis itself?"

Ronon nodded, and handed Aleron a towel as he himself ran one through his shorter hair. The intense fencing session to warm up for actual sparring had pushed them both. Ronon was quite impressed with Aleron despite still kicking his ass. "Yep, they live on 'em. Thousands of em. We musta killed twenty or thirty thousand Wraith in the last few years."

Nodding, Aleron mused. "Impressive. Through from what Carson has told me, it was nothing compared to those last few months in your home galaxy."

Judging his words, seeing whether there was anything beyond curiosity, Ronon decided that Aleron simply didn't know how to interact with people in a gentle way. "Yeah…wasn't a good time. Carson." Ronon stopped and growled. "I haven't talked to him since. You don't know about him do you?"

Shaking his head, Aleron got up and stretched his arms, ready for the practice, hoping his ass didn't get kicked again. "No. What about Carson? He seems friendly and I would go so far as to say I trust him…somewhat."

Ronon kept his voice quiet, some of the kids were playing nearby and he didn't want them to hear this. "He's a clone. The real Carson died two years ago."

A little surprised, but much less than Ronon was expecting, Aleron simply shrugged. "A genetic copy? Hmm… Doctor Jackson made no mention that you have that kind of technology."

A little surprised himself Ronon grunted. "Wraith. _This_ Carson was a prisoner for two years."

Now getting into position to fight, Aleron clenched his fists and flexed his arms. "No wonder I didn't frighten him. Now come on, show me that little trick you did with the stick last night."

* * *

"Whoa. Either Dusty's graduated from dolls or you got attacked by one of those makeover shows."

Rafaela growled softly, but she smiled anyway. "I actually _like it_ thank you very much. And while Dusty may have _suggested_ it, it was Claudita who did the actual cutting." She pushed the bottom of her new shortened haircut.

Sidling up next to her, Dan ran his fingers unashamedly through her hair. "It's nice, fits you better than that old seventies hair cut."

Smacking him with her fist, Rafaela was quickly wondering why she was putting up with him in her lab at this moment. "Is there a reason you came here? Or are you pulling a Chuck and just showing up to annoy me?"

Dan snorted. He didn't exactly like being compared to the Canadian. "Please, if I wanted to annoy you, you'd know it." He sat down beside Rafaela and looked at the odd shape on the console ahead of her. "What is this?"

Shrugging, Rafaela pointed it out. "It's a scan of an Ancient Drone. We've been trying to figure them out for years, but because we were held back by different regulations, limits on how much materials we could use and even power regulation, we're trying to…"

Dan finished. "Make more of them?"

Rafaela smiled and nodded. "Something like that. The Travelers are doing the heavy lifting but i'm helping out where i can. Now seriously! Either tell me what's going on or I'm going to have to start reciting the periodic table to get you to go away." Since he only gave her a look of defiance, Rafaela began to muse. "Hydrogen, the most abundant thing in the universe beyond stupidity, with an atomic mass of…"

Dan instantly shuddered. "Gah! Alright alright. I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

Looking around ensuring no one was eavesdropping. Dan spoke quietly. "Did you tell Vega what I told you?"

Now worried, Rafaela shook her head vehemently. "What? No! You told me that in confidence and I'd never break that. I just told her she should try and patch things up with you because it's stupid for you two to fight like this."

Dan turned away for a moment, he hated when people involved themselves in his affairs like this. If he was going to patch things up with Alicia then it was going to be on _his_ terms, not someone else who happens to think they know what's right.

As he turned to Rafaela to let loose, he found that he couldn't. He thought about all he knew about Rafaela now, how she grew up traditionally, in a well maintained home with both parents who kept a tight leash on her, all prim and proper and paid to go to prestigious schools. That's how she got a PHD in physics, and a Masters in Mechanical engineering.

Dan had to 'work' to get enough money to go to college, and knowing that Rafaela wasn't used to such harsh truths he simply sighed. "I guess you're right."

Rafaela put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. Dan noticed right away, she'd _never_ openly touched him before beyond a hand hold or shake. "Give her a chance. I'm sure if you talk to her openly, you can work things out."

Now feeling the need to get outta here and at least have a stiffener before going with Alicia, Dan nodded. "I'll…_try."_

* * *

"So what exactly are we gonna do out there? I don't wanna run into those damn tentacle plants again."

Alicia shuddered, remembering what Dan had muttered that night was just a little more disturbing than she wanted to admit. "Uh, no. Teyla just traded for a ton of meat and we're having a big barbecue. Might go swimming too and then a big campfire afterwards."

Smirking, Dan looked straight at Alicia. "Putting that bikini Sheppard gave you to use?"

She hated the fact that Dan always said stuff like that when she was busy doing something else, like flying a jumper a few hundred feet off the ground. She could probably reach over and strangle him for a few seconds, then get back to the controls before they crashed, but that wouldn't be professional now would it? "I'm just hoping you brought a pair of shorts. I'm no mood to see you with anything less than a towel."

Dan snorted. "Didn't you try that once?"

As professional as she was, turning off the inertial dampeners and sliding the Jumper so Dan was thrown into the wall comically was just a _little_ breach of protocol that she could get away with. "Whoops! Sorry."

* * *

"At least you caught something."

John shrugged as he looked at the shoe sized fish he'd caught. "I guess we can fry it up when we get to the mainland. Leave it to Rey to get that big honker."

Sam chuckled as she walked arm in arm with John, she'd missed this terribly, the simple easy talk she could have with him, the contact and knowledge that they really were having an actual relationship. "Please, she was so proud. Notice how wide her grin was?"

John chuckled, and as they now reached the cold storage room, he keyed in his personal access code to at least freeze the fish-like creature with the creepy looking eyes for later. "I think she's been learning from you."

Now a little bashful, Sam smiled impulsively, John could be corny sometimes, but somehow he made it work. It had been too much stress lately with the Olim, and then the Traveler council, but being with John helped her to deal with it.

* * *

"You think Larrin'd be pissed if we just stayed in bed all day?"

Chuck yawned and pulled Laura closer under the sheets. "All the crap we have to put up with? I really don't care at this point." He didn't tell Laura about his little prank. He'd made sure there was no way to track it to him specifically but he knew Larrin would find out.

Laura snickered and shifted in her cuddled position. Last night had been exhausting and she just _didn't_ want to get out of bed. "Neither do I."

* * *

Daniel hated babblespeak. It was cute sure, but it didn't help the kid learn any new language. And ever since 'officially' getting together with Teyla, he'd slowly been coming to see Torren as his own, albeit rambunctious charge. "Alicia, I know he's cute but we're trying to get him to start speaking soon. English preferably."

Alicia snickered and bounced a happy Torren on her knee. "Aw, so I can't teach him to say 'I love you, Mommy" in Spanish?"

To the side, Dan rolled his eyes. "Pa današji lice od u prezentu zašto. ja uvijek odeća zaštita , djeca napraviti žene."

To Dan's shock, Daniel looked him right in the eyes and replied in an aggressive tone. "Pa današji . lice od u prezentu zašto. ja učen 36 jezik , za prevesti idiot tko govoriti o šta oni nemoj knotkle"

Alicia looked at them both as if they were insane. "Uhh… Hola, mi nombre es Alicia?" She screwed her face, a little surprised at both men's reactions.

Dan was a little too shocked to reply to Alicia, He'd have to be careful what he muttered in the future but he quickly regained his composure and nodded to Daniel with a finger raised. "Point taken. Now what's up for today?"

* * *

**A/N: **For thoes wondering. i used an online translator for Serbian. Here's what Dan and Daniel say.

**  
Dan:** "This is why i always wear a condom, babies make women stupid."

**Daniel:** "And this is why i learned 36 languages, to translate idiots who talk about what they don't know."

And of course, Alicia just blankly says "Uhh... Hi my name is Alicia?"

:P


	48. Inevitable Third Quarter

"Ready?"

Sitting in the back of the modified 302, Sam scoffed. "Why is it that you always ask me that right before you do something…?"

Interrupting her, John suggested. "Risky? Impulsive? Stupid?"

Snickering at his shamelessness, Sam nodded. "You could say that."

Now engaging the new engine, John pushed the thrusters into a forward position. "Because then you can't complain that I didn't warn you."

Before Sam could reply, John yanked the throttle up and even with inertial dampeners, they both felt the kick of the newly built Ion engine, courtesy of the Travelers.

Sam yelped in surprise, but then cheered as the craft punched out of its berth on the pier near the main shipyard where repairs and modifications were being made to the Traveler Fleet that remained in orbit.

With the Asgard Core updates such as transporters and Naquadria Generators slowly reaching what remained of the Traveler fleet, now 12 ships total after cannibalizing parts and materials, resources like Naquadah, Trinium, and even Neutronium were beginning to stockpile. That led to a new resurgence in reverse engineering Ancient technology, as well as creating new hybrid technologies, much like the 302 that John and Sam now rode up into the atmosphere.

* * *

"So what is it with you and Katty? You gonna get joined or what?"

Surveying all these planets for minerals and possible crop production _was_ boring, but he had to admit, with Mila around, the excitement and babble never ended. "Joined? What's that?"

Reattaching the conduit she'd just replaced to the console, Kevin's arm rest computer whirred back to life as Mila replied. "Uhh…that's when a guy and a girl get together to make babies."

Kevin yet again palmed his forehead. This was getting ridiculous. "Okay, it's Chuck isn't it? You've been hanging out with him."

Mila gave Kevin an innocent smirk. "Of course! He's fun! Him and Laura always do something fun when we swing by Atlantis."

As much as he hated to admit it, maybe there were a _few_ things Chuck had right, but professionalism in his crew was something he appreciated, Traveler or not. "Well could you keep the innuendo down while we're on the bridge?" He looked at the other Travelers, none of which seemed to care making his point just a little weaker than he wanted.

Mila just laughed. "You're so uptight. I'da thought you'd realized by now we're not like that. God, you're like all the council wrapped into one."

Furrowing his brow, Kevin asked. "Council? What?"

Sitting down in the chair next to him, Mila explained. "You know how our council works right? Six leaders, we all vote, and they vote on _their_ leader for the foreseeable future."

Not needing another lesson that Katana had drilled into him, Kevin nodded and waved his hand. "Yeah yeah yeah…get to where it matters here."

A little frustrated, Mila snarled but continued nonetheless. "Well, other than them, it's really casual on our ships. We're family Kev, living out here…" she motioned to the screen where the planet below shone from the reflected light of a class K star. "…we're home. I remember Sammie asked me once about it and she didn't get it either."

Kevin groaned softly and began to run a few checks of his "improved" armrest computer. "I still don't see how me and Katana is 'casual' conversation."

"She's family to me, I know she's not my actual mom, but she's the closest I've had. We tell each other everything."

Suddenly a little worried, Kevin sputter.. "Uhh…_everything_?"

Mila smiled evilly. "Yep, she even told me about that little thing you do where you use your…"

Quickly tapping the control on his armrest, Kevin sounded the general quarters alarm and called out. "Surprise Drill! Everyone to Battlestations!"

The few travelers within earshot didn't fall for it though and instantly started cackling. They were really starting to trust Kevin Marks, but he just had to loosen up for once. He'd never last more than a year out in the void like that.

* * *

"Wipe that grin off your face Dan. You know, I'm not afraid to shove my rifle's muzzle up your ass." Alicia had just changed into her bikini barely outside his view in the little covered hut, and now she was putting her regular clothes back on.

Dan quickly held up both hands. "Whoa whoa whoa! That's my only virginity left, and as much as I'd love to get you in that position, you ain't takin' that from me."

A few of the older of the kids in Teyla's settlement including Wex were nearby and began to howl with laughter. The young Athosian had offered to guide them to the hot springs, though Dan was just convinced he wanted to hang out with him. After a rocky start, Dan was really starting to like the kid, and he felt obligated to see that he got a proper chance at a good life.

He owed it, his own life having been given the same chance. Of course this was counting on Alicia not killing him for his latest quip.

* * *

"R2, take over the controls? I wanna check out these new weapons."

Sam took the yoke without question, though she did snarl. "You wouldn't _believe_ how often I heard that joke in Area 51. More than one person regretted it."

John chuckled, and primed up the new cannons. "Alright then, how 'bout you run me through all this stuff? Leese is gonna wanna know and I know a few Travelers wanna learn to fly these as well."

Slaloming the nimble craft through the ice of the ring Saudade orbited, Sam had to admit so far this was quite an awesome date. "Pretty simple. The old 5 millimeter railguns got pulled out, not enough punch for what we might face out here."

John nodded and keyed up the system. "Nice. Just need quantum torpedoes."

Sam chuckled as she pointed the craft towards a large frozen rock tumbling in space, Sam precisely guided the craft into a geosynchronous orbit. "You know those were originally supposed to destroy a cube in one hit? God those sci-fi writere really need to read a physics book or two."

John smirked and rolled his head over. "Or ten?" Seeing Sam smile, he knew he'd stuck gold. "Why do you keep watching all those old shows? Just for a laugh?"

Sam grinned and nodded. "It's fun. And besides, some of the stories are actually pretty good. Anyways, the easiest way to explain the new railguns is bigger shells. Think of the difference between a .50 cal machine gun, and a 20 mm cannon."

John furrowed his brow. "Spitfires and 109s?"

Momentarily confused, Sam quickly recalled the World War II reference. "Uhhh, Yeah, you could say that. Give em a try. I just cleared the chambers."

The ship around them made a few clunking noises, but John just knew it was the weapon's making the necessary adjustments. He pointed the craft and deftly squeezed the trigger.

Four flashes of light zoomed out, two from each wing. Each impact nailed the icerock ahead of them, tearing large chunks out of it. John whistled at the amount of damage from such a short burst. "Nice, How big are the rounds?"

Sam snorted. "Same as _Daedalus_." Already knowing that John would be confused, Sam explained. "It's a matter of velocity. We stripped out most of the missile banks and with the new Ion engine we had plenty of room to put an extra Naquadria generator in the trunk for an extra boost to the railguns. They're several orders of magnitude faster now so definitely much more than a 20mm cannon."

John shrugged. "Nice, shields and a hyperdrive and I can play Star Wars."

To John's delight, Sam replied quite gleefully. "It's in the works. Be happy with VTOL, bigger guns, and a particle cannon under the nose. Just don't use the Force to navigate."

John again turned and smiled. He was liking his new hotrod more and more every day.

* * *

"No…no I never shared my life with someone."

Daniel and Teyla both were a little confused over the wording. "Pardon? Shared your life?"

Aleron could see that he was getting lost in translation. "A partner? Someone whom I would share my life, my possessions? Much like you two I suppose."

Teyla became a little bashful, but kept control. Torren was asleep thank God, and she was glad that she'd already fed him so he wasn't likely to wake up hungry anytime soon. "Uhh…perhaps…I think we should clarify what a 'Shared life' is first." She took a sip of her tea to get a moment to think. Besides Daniel, the one thing that had lifted her spirits in the last few months was the way the children in her settlement, the last Athosians played. It was a simple thing, but it made her smile more than anything else she'd had… except for Torren. "Myself and Daniel are what we would call 'dating' or perhaps even…'engaged'."

Daniel suddenly coughed, a little surprised by Teyla's admission. "Uhhh! Well…what I think Teyla means to say is.. me and Teyla are very comfortable with one another and…" he looked over to Teyla who was giving him that "_oh really?" _look that she was so good at giving. "...and while yes, we are in a relationship, the terminology of a 'shared life' sounds a bit…_strong_ for what we have." He smiled awkwardly to Teyla, and knew he'd stuck his foot in his mouth.

Aleron for that matter didn't even notice, or if he did, he made no mention of it. "Ah, then you are in the process of building the foundation so to speak. I understand. We call that 'Prepping the Pad'. A term for landing a ship for a long term stay. I have put too much time into training and defense of my people to worry about such matters of the soul."

Latching onto _anything_ to detract from the point that Teyla now stared at him for Daniel continued. "Soul? Wow, that's actually not very different from something my own people say, 'matters of the heart.'"

Aleron screwed his face in thought. "The Heart? What would a simple pump have to do with love? If anything, one would think one's reproductive organs would be mentioned. Matters of the…"

Teyla interrupted him this time, herself already having filed away Daniel's comment to use during their next, albeit rare, argument.

* * *

"So…is there a reason you lured me to the great outdoors with the promise of seeing you in a bikini?"

Alicia rolled her eyes. _Refrain from killing him…refrain from killing him! _"Well for all you know I just want you to have something nice to see…" She waited a second and then hissed. _"…before I kill you."_

Dan rolled his eyes in response, the warmth of the water was utterly relaxing and he doubted either of them had a violent thought in their minds. "Please, take _off_ the bikini before you make threats."

Alicia wanted to feel offended, and maybe somewhere she did, but at the same time there was only one other guy she'd met that could say such things and get away with it. And he was due to arrive some time later. "In your dreams." She chuckled, and so did Dan, This trip was serving its purpose, their fractured friendship was starting to heal. But before it continued she had to know.

With a slightly hushed tone, Alicia looked at Dan in all seriousness. "Dan…?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it something I did?"

Understanding her immediately, Dan sighed, He'd been here long enough. It was high time they went back to get a bite to eat. And she _was_ trying. Apart from the obvious attempt at seductive manipulation, the thought that she cared enough to try gave her points. "No."

"Then what?"

Reaching over to the bank, pulling his pack closer, Dan began to pull himself out of the hot spring, the water running down his body. Alicia was thankful that the water was warm because then she couldn't tell if it was her or the spring doing that. Ambiguity served its purpose sometimes.

With another moment of hesitation, Dan replied tersely. "It's not something you did…not exactly. It's something you _are."_

Seeing that he wanted to leave, and herself quite done with the hot water and playful flirting, Alicia pulled herself up onto the bank as well, her voice still soft and curious. "What am I?"

Dan dried himself off quickly, fully recognizing that Alicia was staring at his chest and abs. He was just grateful that she'd gotten over the fact that he usually walked around '_at attention'_, especially in this situation. He waited another moment, slipped his jacket and shoes on and then replied as he walked away. "You're something I detest."

Alicia raised her eyebrows in surprise. _That_ wasn't what she was expecting.

* * *

"That was too fun."

John snorted. "Nothing's _too_ fun. Just needs to be done sparingly."

Accepting John's hand out of the back of the 302, Sam smiled as she looked around at the Traveler outpost they'd set up in the old Ancient ruins. With a built-in infrastructure, they'd created a small starport for Jumpers between Atlantis and the mainland. The Traveler docking crew was a little surprised to see the VTOL version of the 302 come in for a landing, especially because with the new Ion engine it was much much quieter, but the pristine shine of the modified fighter had them all gawking and admiring it.

Hopping down, John and Sam quickly cleared things up with the rest of the crew there, got changed into their casual clothes, and set out for Teyla's settlement a few minutes down the newly cut road.

Sam was still getting used to the fact that everyone knew she and John were "an item." But she slowly found that next to no one actually cared. Even Larrin, who had been uncharacteristically quiet the past few weeks despite the outrage from her people, seemed okay with the knowledge. Sam worried, but it was going away… albeit at a snails pace.

Now as they both walked arm in arm down the nature path towards the settlement that was almost like a school; the Athosians and even some of the Traveler youth were getting educated in many different things and Daniel had always enjoyed teaching. Sam didn't think she'd ever seen him happier.

This trip would serve another purpose though, she and John had given Aleron time to acclimate to his new surroundings. It was time to get to know him.

* * *

"I assume you've gutted it?"

Ronon nodded as he spun the rotisserie. "Filled it with those flower things. Tastes good."

Aleron and Daniel both winced at the sight of the deer sized creature that looked oddly like a rat spinning slowly over the fire. Daniel looked to Aleron and mused. "Is this at all similar to how things are cooked among your people?"

Shrugging, Aleron nodded. "There's a saying among my people, 'Where there's fire, there's food, or else you'd better seal that compartment off.'"

It took Daniel a few seconds to understand the quip, but he quickly referenced it. "Oh! Ha ha! Yes, the Travelers have something similar. 'Don't burn your food, we'll seal you in.'"

Aleron chuckled. The idea that the Travelers were actually quite similar to his own people in respect to living arrangements was oddly amusing. "I look forward to my next meeting with Larrin. She was certainly quite the upstart. Accused me of spying and genocide."

Daniel nodded. Larrin had quickly receded from the public eye and now he only ever saw her during something official. "She's…fiery. I used to know a woman a lot like that, we beat each other up the first time we met."

Now eyeing a rather juicy looking leg of "deer rat" as Daniel had taken to calling it, Aleron mused. "As odd as this sounds, I understand you. I miss my home as well." He turned to Daniel then spotted something over his shoulder. "I should have guessed. They were much too close for mere comrades."

Daniel gave Aleron a strange look then looked over his shoulder. "Oh. Sam and John. Yeah… yeah…they're not really good at keeping that secret."

With a slight grin, Aleron deadpanned. "I see."

Ronon chuckled this time, again spinning the 'deer rat' around. "If you're up for it, you and Sheppard can tag team. See if you can beat me that way."

Aleron smiled, sparring had quickly become the most effective method of venting his frustration over his situation, and perhaps finally beating Ronon would give him a good laugh, maybe even give him enough skill to beat Korpius if he ever saw him again. "Careful what you wish for Ronon. Sheppard may be 'softer' as you put it, but I still feel fire in him."

Ronon growled. "Good."

* * *

"Hi Teyla, how's..."

Teyla spun and raised a finger to her lips. "Shh…he is sleeping. We can talk outside."

Sam shirked her shoulders, and instantly saw the exhaustion in Teyla's eyes. "Sorry." She quickly exited the room where she'd found her and Teyla followed suit. The little house she and Daniel had built was more than sturdy enough, Daniel having plenty of experience with long lasting architecture.

Sighing, and wiping her hands on her shirt, Teyla then offered Sam her hand in greetings. "Pardon for the rude welcoming. Torren has begun to teeth and has been rather fussy lately." She smiled and then motioned for Sam to follow. "It is good to see you, Samantha. It has been quite some time."

Sam nodded. "Yeah… well ever since the whole thing with the Olim it's been meeting after meeting. They're really in no position to attack us directly. I'm sure Aleron's told you."

Teyla sighed and led Sam to a bench outside with a table and a pitcher of water. John was off with Daniel, Ronon and Aleron having their own little chat by the roasting deer rat. "He has been quite civil, if a bit less forthcoming than we would have hoped. He mostly speaks with Daniel, Ronon, and Carson of all people."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Carson?"

Pouring each a glass, Teyla yawned and stretched her arms. She had been trying to get back into the habit of training her body, but with Ronon now devoting most of his time to it, he'd quickly outpaced her since she had other responsibilities. She quietly gave thanks that Daniel was ready and willing to assist her in such an arduous task. "Yes, I'm not quite sure why, but they talk every so often. Perhaps it is Carson's accent."

Sam snickered. Truth be told she was still a little uncomfortable around the cloned doctor, but she'd slowly been coming to accept his presence as well. That still didn't mean that she was comfortable with the idea of doubles. She didn't think she'd _ever_ be okay with that again, the universe had something about her and her dopplegangers.

* * *

"Hey, John. What're you doing here?"

Turning, John chuckled as he saw Alicia walk up wearing her jacket with no shirt on, he could see the bikini underneath just barely visible. "Oh, taking some time off with Sam. We need it. Things have been hectic lately."

Alicia smiled, but it was half forced. "Yeah…yeah they have been."

Seeing that she was _still_ a little uncomfortable, John cut her some slack and decided to switch the topic. "So, hey, what are _you_ doing here? Trying out my Christmas gift?"

Alicia snorted at the forwardness then realized that her jacket wasn't quite covering up everything. "Oh, _God!"_ She buttoned up quickly and covered her mouth in embarrassment. Luckily they were pretty much on their own as she'd waited for John to move away from Aleron and Ronon to talk to him. "At least the kids didn't see this. I'm in no mood to explain the birds and bees."

John rolled his eyes and pulled a football out of his pack. "Please. I never got that in the first place anyway."

Alicia gave him an incredulous look. "You never got the birds and the bees?"

John shrugged. "Something about bees trying to have sex with birds. My dad never got through the whole explanation."

A little surprised, Alicia mused. "All my dad ever said was 'long as you live in my house, you keep your legs closed.'" She chuckled remembering her father. "I miss him…he was a blast whenever he was around."

Nodding, John began to toss the football up and down. "I'm gonna try and get a game going, feel like playin'?"

Looking up at John, Alicia couldn't figure it out, what was it that kept them apart? Dammit, why did he go to Sam when they were so…_right?_ "Uhh, yeah, sure. We can get everyone in on it. Should probably play before we eat unless you wanna see it twice."

Smiling, John nodded, and Alicia decided that tonight she'd try and figure this whole thing out.


	49. Inevitable Fourth Quarter

The game had been intense, and now all the players were coming back to the firepit outside Teyla's hut for a well deserved dinner. John and Sam walked with their arms around each other's shoulders, supporting their tired motions. Their team had won, _barely_. Their teammates, Daniel and Aleron were tired, and Aleron was still a little confused over the strange game, though was more than pleased at the full contact and team nature of the sport.

Dan summed up his own team's defeat in a sentence as he helped Alicia off the ground, still stunned from that last play that had won the game, and knocked her on her ass. "Come on, Ronon's takin' it like a bitch and I could use a bite."

Alicia blew a raspberry at Dan and gave him a gentle smack on the arm. "You know women hate that word?"

Turning to her, Dan smirked deviously. "What, 'bitch'? Well he is! Look at him!"

Deciding not to exacerbate the situation, Alicia simply rolled her eyes, pulled away from Dan and moved off. "It's a freakin' miracle you get laid as often as you do."

Clicking his tongue, Dan moved along at a brisk pace. He might have lost the game, but he hadn't lost his appetite. "Please, women use it the most often. Don't lie and say no because I know better."

Alicia often didn't know whether what she felt for Dan was attraction, or just the sheer hot rage that he broke all her shields and defenses almost offhandedly. "That may be true, but that's because we know when it's really being done. Maybe I should tell Ronon you called him that."

Dan snorted at the threat. "You'd never tattletale."

A little surprised, Alicia stared at him as they neared the edge of the fire. "Oh? And why not?"

Turning his head with a faint smile, Dan just shook his head and ignored the question.

Oh, yeah. Alicia _did_ think Dan was hot, but right now she was more likely to strangle him than anything else. She liked the concept of strangling, very physical and _real._

* * *

"Alicia, is it?"

A little surprised by the voice, Alicia turned, she'd been left alone for a moment as everyone went to change into warmer clothes, she was just fine though as she'd changed earlier. Alicia was a little surprised he was talking to her. "Aleron? Yeah… Alicia."

Aleron sat down across from her, the fire raging next to them. He sighed as he looked at her and gave a small smile. "I have a confession, and Daniel tells me I should open up more to you people."

A little wary, Alicia nodded as she poked the fire with a stick. "Uhh… okay."

Rubbing his hands, Aleron picked up his own stick and poked the fire in a similar manner. "You've changed since the last time I saw you."

Turning to look at him, Alicia furrowed her brow. "What? You mean my hair? I cut it. Was getting too long and it's a pain to keep it out of my gear."

Snorting softly, Aleron shook his head. "No no no… I meant your spirit, your feelings."

Now creeped out, Alicia prepared for whatever was coming. "Uhh…"

Aleron could see she was a little perturbed, and he explain. "No, I haven't been stalking you. Carson should have told you all, but I can sense your feelings, your…_emotions_. You and Sheppard especially. because of your natural higher evolution."

Still a little disturbed, Alicia tried to be diplomatic. It's what John and Sam would expect of her. "Okay…and what's changed in the last two weeks?"

Now Aleron snickered out loud, nobody was in earshot and he sighed while bowing his head. "No no…this was not two weeks ago. I mean you've changed from the first time I saw you…when you shot me."

That never happened, Alicia was confused as hell and wondered if maybe she'd fallen into an alternate universe. Maybe in this universe, things were very different, and he just felt the difference. Right? These crazy ideas that kept coming to her were very confusing at times. "What? The first time I saw you, you were in the hospital with Carson, that was two months ago." She knew it was that long since he'd spent the last two months recovering, and then doing little else but spar, learn about Atlantis's people and answer a _few_ of their questions.

Putting his hands together, lacing the fingers, Aleron finally admitted. "No. The first time you saw me was approximately a year ago by your time. You shot me not far from here."

It slapped Alicia like a slippery fish, _he'd_ been the one to smack her around that first day on the mainland. _He'd_ been the one to scare the living bejesus out of the entire city! And ironically, _he'd_ been the one who caused the event which led to John taking a focus on her. She almost wished she had a weapon just to finish the job. "It was _you!"_ The indignance was righteous.

Aleron nodded. "Yes…yes it was me. I had been sent to recon the outpost which had begun to transmit a signal. I was there a few days before your people arrived. I can only assume your arrival precipitated the signal."

As if things weren't bad enough, now Alicia was sitting next to a man who'd kicked her ass the first time they met. It was Ronon all over again. Too frustrated to say anything productive, Alicia merely mused in a terse voice. "And exactly_ how_ am I different?"

Aleron tossed the stick in the fire, got up, and muttered quite matter of factly. "You're angrier. You're worried. I don't blame you. The situation is nothing like what I imagined I would have at this stage of my life, let alone what _you_ must think." Not giving her a chance to reply, Aleron nodded. "I shall…'see you later.' Good night, Alicia."

Infuriated, Alicia hated that the bastard was right, and she was just proving his point now.

* * *

Alicia hated this. She'd come here to fix her relationship with Dan but all she could focus on was the fact that Sam was basically sitting in John's lap, both joking and exchanging little kisses. _She_ should be there. _She_ could joke just as much. Whenever she and John were together they _did_ joke just as much! It was unfair, and Alicia still wasn't sure exactly what John had meant when he said that she _had_ stood a chance…albeit a small one.

That was…enraging. A _small_ chance? What the _hell_ did that mean? Alicia was careful to keep her outwardly expression impassive, not letting the sheer frustration show through. Dan sat next to her, joking with the others about some claptrap ghost story.

And that led to Dan. What the hell was his problem? He'd been a buddy, and if she was honest with herself, Alicia could see that maybe something could happen with him. The only reason it even came up was because there were no rules anymore. Seeing Sam and John now play fighting hurt more than she wanted to admit because it was just a double proof. But she'd avoided it in order to maintain the feeling of the rules, the regs that had kept her alive. Somehow she wondered what might have happened if Aleron had never kicked her ass and forced her and John together into the fire. Without his guidance, she might still be full of attitude towards the command structure. These thoughts were troubling and Alicia simply yawned and rubbed the bridge ofhernose.

Maybe that's what John meant by a small chance. Alicia did know that John and Sam went through hell together before leaving Pegasus. Was that what drew them together? Was that what was different? What was it that Sam had that Alicia didn't?

Now seeing them get up as one, excusing themselves as the night fast approached, Alicia found herself alone again, only Dan remaining by her side roasting something akin to a s'more, made of a few confectionaries he'd gotten with his "paycheck."

Figuring she may as well get it over with, Alicia turned and spoke softly. "So…what exactly am I that you _detest?"_

Dan growled softly, he'd been wondering when she'd get to this, and he had to admit her show of patience was impressive. He hesitated a few seconds before beginning his reply. "How much you know about the Bosnian War?"

* * *

It had been a great day, and John was just glad that Sam was relaxing. He hadn't joked around like this with her in weeks and it was heartening to feel her close to him. Her laugh was infectious, her smile contagious. "You got a nice spiral to your throw, you know that? I was worried I'd have to be QB all day long but you did _good_."

Sam chuckled and laid her head on his shoulder as they went for a walk around the settlement towards the beach. Most of the kids had gone to sleep. A few errant and mischievous ones still awake, playing their own little games. "Oh, well you know, football, grenade, as long as you know the weight and aerodynamics it's really not that hard to get a good distance." She'd given him the complicated answer, and seeing his incredulous look she finally cracked and laughed. "Hahaha! Okay okay. I used to play with my brother and he hated being QB, I hated running at the time so of course I did it. Got pretty good, too."

Reaching over and squeezing her arm, John mused offhandedly, "With guns like that, I'm not surprised."

Sam chortled, and batted him away. She pulled them closer to a little stream that passed by the beach nearby, and considered just what a fun day she'd had today. It was as close to perfect as she could want, and even more, she'd begun to know Aleron, perhaps a bit young for his supposed rank, but he clearly knew tactics and wasn't afraid to jump into the melee, his bruising and the rather comical looking bump on Ronon's head now proof. "John?"

Hearing her serious voice for the first time in a few hours, John sat down at the bottom of a tree on the beach, Atlantis off in the distance while the stars and even the other moon in orbit of the Saturn type planet was off in the distance, the tides changing from the gravity. "Yeah?"

Sam smiled softly, this was revenge and she wanted it to be as sweet as possible. "Do you remember Tuesday last week?"

"Uhh yeah. Why'd you ask?"

Snickering, Sam began to fish in her pocket. "Oh nothing much... I just happen to know what last Tuesday was."

Thinking for a moment, John suddenly realized. "Uhh… _oh crap."_

Sam laughed at his natural reaction. Taking a good hold of him, she held him down as she explained. "Don't worry, I'm not going to spread around that you're older now. But…."

John couldn't say he liked where this was going. "But?"

Sam finally pulled out the little object from her pocket. "I have to give this back to you." She put the little round object in John's hand.

Looking at the object, John furrowed his brow. "A golf ball? What're you doing with this?"

Shrugging innocently, Sam explained. "I needed to make a mold and figure out what it was made of."

John took a few seconds to think about that, and finally realizing, turned slowly to Sam who gave him a devious grin. "Sam…?"

"Yes, John?"

A little scared to ask, John did it laterally. "I thought you didn't like golfing."

Settling into his arm, Sam mused. "Well I can at least learn how to swing properly, since we can make as many as we need from now on."

John couldn't believe it. He'd been guarding the few golf balls he had left like little treasures. The idea that Sam would have snuck one away _just _to… He felt a heavy weight in his chest; it had been a long time since something had moved him so. "You made me golf balls."

Sam nodded, and cuddled up to his arm. "Happy Birthday John, even if it's a week late." She'd gotten her revenge, and holy Hannah was it ever sweet.

* * *

Sitting down, Aleron stretched his arms and yawned. While sparring and learning about Atlantis was fun, he missed his home. He missed teasing Aquilina, the long and profound discussions he'd have with his father. He even missed Korpius' visits and invariably getting his ass kicked, though Ronon was quickly taking his place with even more ferocity.

The city of the Alterra was indeed magnificent. Everything Aleron had thought it would be and more. But at the same time, it was almost sad to think about. Just the fact that Atlantis was here, in the hands of the second evolution instead of still firmly in the grasp of the progenitors…

But then that was it wasn't it? Progenesis was just a lie. Well perhaps not a lie, but a convenient untruth. He'd long suspected it, and he knew he wasn't the only one who questioned their beginnings and whether the faith was just tradition.

These Atlanteans were honest people as far as he could tell. Those from Avalon especially. The home galaxy of the Alterra… where they had made the center of their empire. A place he was linked to whether he liked it or not.

Aleron couldn't really understand it, but being here among the Atlanteans he felt almost at home… and he'd never felt more lonely in his life. Time would heal these wounds, time healed all wounds. But looking towards the future, Aleron simply began to consider how long he would have to stay with these people. They didn't even bother to meditate and keep their minds sharp, most were too busy trying to procreate to see the magnificence of the city around them.

It was fun and a lovely experience, but Aleron had more pressing concerns than giving into his primal instinct. Namely, he had to earn these people's trust, earn back the respect so that when the time came, peace between their respective people's were possible.

So now, laying back in the bed they'd given him along with the small well provisioned hut he slept in, Aleron allowed his mind to wander into itself, loneliness was painful, but memories were a sweet escape.

* * *

Sam sighed heavily. She was always one who needed all the facts, the kind of facts needed to make a perfectly informed decision. They'd had enough mindless fun today, time to get serious. "Do you mind if I ask you a few…_hard_ questions?"

John didn't really have any defense against this, not that he really minded anymore. Sam had told him some very personal things, things he knew that not even Daniel knew. Major Matt Mason had been a bit of a strange one, but John could appreciate her upbringing. "No…of course not."

Sam nodded also quite glad that she'd gotten this close to him. It was something she just didn't have before. Not even Jack knew some of the things she'd told John. As much as she was trying to keep logical and in control… "I uhh…I have one hypothetical question, and one…_other_ question." Seeing that John was ready, Sam herself found that after thinking about these two questions for hours now, she was ready. "If I hadn't come here…to this galaxy…Larrin or Alicia?"

John raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was quite the different question that he'd expected. "Uhh…okay…I really don't see what…"

"Please, John." Sam looked up at John, her eyes pleading. "I know you're not going to just walk away from this…but I just need to know. It's…important to me."

John sighed. He'd never expected to have to answer this question to anyone besides himself, but knowing that Sam would appreciate his honesty over his bashfulness, he simply replied. "…_Alicia."_

Sam nodded, she'd seen it with the way they acted, and even more, the way Alicia looked at him. "She likes you."

Groaning, John clenched his teeth. "I know…I told her it…well it just ain't happening…but…"

Sam again nodded, and at least she knew where John stood. "I know…and…well, I know you're not gonna run off. I appreciate that. I really do." She pulled herself close to John in the night air and hugged him tightly.

Realizing that Sam was just getting all the facts, John gave her a small kiss on the side of her head and whispered. "Okay…and the other question?"

Sam smiled, this was a complicated one but she knew he'd like it. "Yeah uh…it's…I've got to say something before I ask." She straightened herself up, and recited from her memory. "The first time you and me…_spent the night together…_ I was weak… I was vulnerable. I would have hated your guts if we'd gone through with it."

John bowed his head and pulled her own head close, nuzzling against her after such a hard comment. "Yeah…yeah. We were both pretty torn up."

Sam remained silent a few moments, and then spoke softly. "I know why we would have…well… my point is…" She looked up to John with the edge of a smile. "…_why are we going to make love tonight?"_

John did his best to hide his mild shock. He figured he did a decent job since Sam didn't burst out laughing. "Oh…tonight?"

Sam snickered. "Yeah…Longest I've ever waited."

John shrugged. "Same here but…" He looked down at Sam and pondered the question, he could think of a dozen different reasons, but right now, at this moment in time he could only voice once. "… well I guess the best answer is...because we both _really_ want to."

Now Sam didn't stifle her laugh. "Good answer."

* * *

His parents… No wonder he'd taken it so personally. It had taken awhile to explain the story completely, starting with Dan's childhood in Sarajevo up to a little after his 11th birthday. The planet had risen high into the night sky, now obscuring the majority of the skyscape. "…when did that happen?"

Dan kept his voice down, yet somewhat calm. "I didn't find out the details until I went to OCS, but they were being escorted by a UN Peacekeeper squad. As soon as they got a little separated they got hit."

Alicia now realized what it was about her that detested him. She'd taken sniper training and often used it in the field; something that must have grated on him every time. "Then why'd you join the Marines?"

Dan's voice became harsh. "_Because the goddamn peacekeepers couldn't shoot back! Some cocksucker put two bullets into my parents and they just.."_ He lowered his voice after that. Alicia couldn't blame him for his anger. "…I wanted to hunt those bastards down, the snipers _and_ the peacekeepers. I was ready to do it… I was ready to kill 'em all I was so mad."

Alicia didn't bother to ask how he planned on doing it. She couldn't imagine what Dan must have been like as a child, with parents who'd sent him to the United States to get educated, and instead ending up in Washington DC during the crack era. To think of him now as a hardcore Marine who followed them halfway across the universe… "What happened?"

Dan rubbed his face. Unlike most people, Dan _hated_ to talk about himself and had only done this to mend a fence. "… Maybe next time. I just wanna go to bed so unless you wanna join me, good night Leesh."

Shuddering again in frustration, Alicia considered accepting his offer _just_ to confuse the hell out of him. "Eugh, no thanks. But hey?"

Dan turned from his position heading towards his guest hut. "Yeah?"

"Thanks…for trusting me. Even if it was a bit late."

Dan rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah yeah…I _am_ sorry. Just don't expect me to go all soft on ya."

"Just warn me if you're going to blow up any more planets." Alicia smiled, okay maybe she was still a little angry, but at least she didn't have to avoid him anymore. She'd have to thank Rafaela for pushing her. "Good night, Dan."

Now alone again, Alicia sighed as she played with the fire in front of her, it wouldn't be much longer till it died out, and she needed to get some sleep as well. It lasted a few minutes longer before finally dying out, and Alicia decided that it was finally time for her to go to bed as well.

She was just going past one of the guest huts, erected by Ronon and Daniel in anticipation of all the potential visitors. She could swear she heard something as she walked by though.

That's when she realized it was John…and Sam.

Her immature streak of attitude won out as she considered what to do, she _had_ to know for sure. She crept closer, and put her head next to the wall of the hut.

_"…what's wrong? Can't tell me you didn't enjoy that."_ Sam's voice, Alicia winced and silently cursed as she realized what they were talking about.

_"No no… just a little different than I'm used to." _John's voice, a voice she'd heard before…a voice she wished she could hear again. _"Usually, I'm on top."_

It was too strange, and too funny for Alicia to hold it all in. She stifled a snort and quickly ran off, hoping that John didn't come charging out with his sidearm aimed and firing.

* * *

Having gotten up due to hearing something unfamiliar, the morning sun momentarily blinded Daniel as looked up into the sky, a little confused over what was going on. "Ilena?"

The Traveler teacher who'd come to be his second as far as teaching about technology to the young ones raised her head from the desk where she was grading the most recent batch of standardized tests they'd designed, her having woken up at the crack of dawn. "Yes?"

Looking up, Daniel pointed. "Is that a ship?"

Ilena got up and looked up into the sky as well, a few seconds later, the sound of roaring came from up above. A sonic boom and a big one at that. "Yeah… yeah that's one of ours."

Turning to her, Daniel adjusted his glasses and mused. "I didn't know we were expecting anyone back _now_. I thought most of your ships were out scavenging."

Ilena shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm a teacher not a…" she screwed her face in thought. "Well, I'm not Larrin or on the council so I have no idea what's going on."

The craft seemed to slow down, and it drifted towards Atlantis off on the horizon. It was oddly nice to be able to actually _see_ Atlantis from the front door, but at the same time, something felt odd.

* * *

Breakfast was simple, an oatmeal type of grain with water and some fruit. Sam appreciated it though, after last night, she needed a good carb boost. John sat next to her, holding her as they silently ate breakfast, both a little too giddy to have a conversation without breaking into fits of giggles.

So it came as a surprise to her when Daniel knocked on their door, and from the sounds of it, it was an emergency. "John! Sam! There's something wrong with Atlantis!"

Timing was an impeccable thing and John and Sam looked to each other, both silently cursing that things never wanted to go right for very long.

* * *

"What is _that?"_

Looking at the city in the distance, Ronon shrugged. "That's Atlantis. I thought you'da known that by now."

Used to Ronon's teasing, Aleron grunted and pointed. "I know that you irreverent…" stopping there, realizing that Ronon would likely not know what a Wylvirin was, he simple continued. "I meant the bubble _around_ the city. Is that an energy shield of some sort?"

Ronon nodded, standing there on the beach was an odd moment, but he knew Daniel and the others were likely trying to get in contact with Atlantis. "Yep, strongest energy shield the Ancestors ever made as far as I know. It held off an entire ocean and bombardment from the Wraith for ten thousand years before it ran out of power. With our ZPMs, Sheppard says it could last another five thousand if we shut everything else off."

Still confused Aleron shook his head. "Something doesn't feel right. The air's thick…the wind's cold."

Ronon turned to Aleron. In many ways, he'd felt a strange kinship, both fighting insurmountable odds. He had to admit though, Aleron was a hell of a bigger chatterbox without _nearly_ the strength in his punches.

* * *

"Leese! Wake up! We need you!"

Alicia bolted upright in bed, flinging the pillow she'd been hugging off and knocking down a chair it was so violent. She quickly got her bearings and slipped her boots on. "John! The hell's going on!?"

* * *

Radek laughed, they couldn't touch him. Not anymore. It all made sense now, all the modifications he'd done, the self-sustainment of the city. The secret lockdown procedures he'd implemented. Even the voice, it all finally made sense. "For an advanced species, you are quite stupid if you think I'll give up the codes."

It had happened so fast, all Radek had been able to do was put the city on lockdown, none of the access panels were working unless the right code was input, and he'd been very careful to allow only the command staff and himself access. He had no idea what was happening to anyone else, but for now, Radek bore this pressure gladly in service of Atlantis.

Menalus growled softly, his Achilus armor gleaming in the bright and well lit ZPM room. He motioned to the pair of guards who'd come with him and waved them off. He'd spent enough time being polite. This "Radek" was little more than an inconvenience, and now he was about to learn what a superior being was capable of. "Tell me Doctor _Radek Zelenka,._ Have you ever wondered exactly what memory and feelings really are?" He turned around, his face visible from his excellent control over the suit's magnetic field. Radek was tied to a chair, none of the computers around him showed anything but a 3D image of Atlantis. "It's quite simple really. Memories are simply electrochemical imprints on a blank cell in your brain. All it takes is the proper decryption and it becomes usable."

Again Radek laughed, but it was less out of amusement and more out of simple realization. "You mean you'll _download_ my memories? Ha! The Asgard have such technology, and I know it takes longer than your men will hold out against our forces. No, you're going to kill me to get me to talk, and that has it's own problems." Again Radek started laughing, this time out of pure hilarity that he was actually here, about to be tortured and he really couldn't give a damn.

Menalus growled angrily and pulled back the armor around his arms. He crouched down in front of Radek and focused on him. "Technology is weak, inefficient. No…unlike my brethren, or that overly emotional minstrel Aleron, I am of the old generation of Olim. My family has prided ourselves on our purity. Our _superiority."_

Radek shrugged as much as he could despite the bonds. "And yet you still can't make me say anything. It must be infuriating for you," he laughed openly again, goading Menalus to break his supposed civility. "Don't you understand? I'm perfection. I don't have anything to lose. I care nothing for anyone here, anything within your reach. I am incapable of caring what you do to me! All I care for is Atlantis, and I would sooner die laughing at you than give up its secrets."

Now smiling himself, Menalus raised his hand to Radek's face. "You need not die. Just…open yourself." It was true, Menalus didn't exactly expect to remain on Atlantis for long, but if he got the codes, then this place would be the seat of the Olim's power for the rest of time, a nice little bonus to this foray.

Radek began to feel something, it was strange, almost as if it weren't really a part of him, but at the same time, he keenly felt something inside his head. It was Menalus, as his hand drew closer to Radek's face, he was making a connection.

All Radek could do was laugh, the voice had been right, and now Menalus was going to taste perfection.

As Menalus touched Radek's face, he felt a surge of memory go through his head, nothing distinguishable, least of all coherent, but it was so much and so fast that he couldn't control it.

Menalus recoiled reflexively, stumbling back onto his backside in an instant anxiety attack. His body twitched from the reeling blow, and try as he might, nothing was making sense anymore. "What… _what have you done to me!?"_

Radek just kept laughing, it was hysterical. "You fool! You can't expect to touch the edge of perfection and come away without feeling the glory! I am _untouchable!_ You could kill me a thousand times and each life, I would embrace your anger! You _cannot_ harm me!"

Uncontrollably infuriated, and completely against his own will, Menalus rose to his feet and screamed. "_I _cannot harm you!? Watch and learn, you pitiful excuse for evolution!" Menalus raised his arm and aimed, triggering the firing mechanism for the micro-gauss rifle built into his armor. A miniature sonic boom filled the room, and then silence except for the screaming in his head.

* * *

**To be continued in Episode 20 – Déjà Vu**


	50. Deja Vu First Third

**Episode 20 Season 1 Finale – Déjà Vu (1/3)**

* * *

**Attention To All Readers:**

Before you read this Episode, please read this warning.

_The next two episodes have a level of violence and subject matter which you would not see on Stargate, in fact, it's more along the lines of BattleStar Galactica. (Nearing an M rating)_

_So yes, this is actually quite 'violent' and not entirely in an 'adventure' sense. Fair Warning._

* * *

**Alicia Vega:** "You want us to do _what?!"_

**John Sheppard:** "_It'll be simple, Transport to the penthouse, tie off a rope, and jump."_

**Ronon Dex:** "I'll cover you, go go!"

**Dan Drake:** "Guess it's just you and me Leesh. Ever rappelled before?"

**Alicia Vega:** "No, but if I die I'm haunting your ass."

* * *

Still putting his boots on, Dan stumbled forward towards the rest of the Atlanteans around John and Sam, Ronon and Aleron were there as well, as was Daniel and Teyla. "The hell's going on?"

John shook his head and looked to the others. "Dunno, but Aleron here's pretty sure it's his buddies."

Nodding, Aleron addressed the group. "It's only a feeling, but I've learned to trust them and I have no doubt that my people are assaulting Atlantis."

Sam tried to keep her face impassive, but obviously failed as she scowled and said. "But there are over three thousand people on Atlantis. With our particle weapons it's hopeless unless they brought a battalion,"

Explaining, Aleron replied. "You are correct, but Menalus's former plan was to invade using soldiers only using Alcaeus armor. I can only assume he maintains this now and _quite honestly_, you have _not_ seen an Alcaeus enraged." Aleron made it seem quite serious.

Alicia growled irritably, already feeling even more animosity towards this young looking man. "We took down that bitch Aqua-whatever. With those new particle rifles we can take on more of em."

Aleron scoffed, noticing that Alicia had said 'new' weapons. He said nothing about Aquilina. "You assume they'll fight like soldiers. No… I can tell you from experience that in a situation like this, they'll use any and every tactic to avoid direct confrontation. Your particle weapons are too slow, and unless you have forces skilled in rooting out garrisoned soldiers, your men on Atlantis will crash upon my men like waves on a beach."

Sam didn't miss a beat. "_'Your'_ men? You're not giving me any reasons to trust you."

Cocking his head, Aleron sighed. "Yes, I have no doubt I will recognize many of those Menalus would bring with him. We've sworn to live and die together in battle." Sam could see the conflict in Aleron as he finished sardonically. "As far as trusting me… I never thought that I'd be the one to do the killing in that oath."

Daniel interjected now, obviously quite bothered with the conversation. "I trust you Aleron!" He looked to Sam and John, both relenting after a moment's hesitation. "Can we even be sure it's them? We should go to Traveler outpost to see if we can get a signal to Atlantis. Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions."

Ronon shook his head and growled. "No… they're here…" He didn't explain himself anymore than that.

John looked over to Sam and they both quickly came to the same conclusion. "They wouldn't have raised the shields unless it was something bad, and they would have sent a signal here if they could. Even if it's not the Olim we need to get there."

Aleron huffed softly. "I thought this energy shield was supposed to be the strongest shield the…" he turned to Ronon. "… _'Ancestors?_' have ever made?"

Sam smiled, it was a little known fact about Ancient ships and shields, but she wasn't above using an enemy's ignorance against them. "True enough, but you could say we've got a _'jump'_ on this kind of thing."

John smiled as well, and knew he'd be flying, Alicia remained impassive knowing that combat was coming, Dan simply turned to Ronon and nodded, both warriors ready for anything. Daniel and Teyla gave each other a small look, one of resignation for battle.

Aleron on the other hand simply gave Sam a half sarcastic deadpan look. "I… see."

* * *

"_Firing line! Don't let him pass!"_

Nevas kept low, the Olim bastard who'd engaged his squad was toying with them he knew, but all it would take is a few lucky shots to take him down. That is IF he didn't just walk away as was evident now. He looked a little different to the others though, his armor shone with stripes of color. Diving across the hallway, he tossed the medkit he'd secured to one of his men who was trying to keep Radek from bleeding out.

Everything was locked down, even the doors didn't want to open but a few shots on overcharge and that problem was solved.

Radek had been badly wounded, his gut little more than torn flesh and filled with biofoam to act as an emergency sealant. He mumbled in his native language as Nevas's men pulled him along towards the hospital, having to carry him the full kilometer there on a makeshift stretcher because the transporters were down and Larrin was nowhere to be found.

Raising his sidearm, Nevas fired a three shot burst to give himself cover as he kept running towards a console his people had put that was separate from Atlantis, it was probably the only communication left in the city that might be able to contact the mainland.

He only hoped the rest of his men followed his order and stayed hunkered down, These Olim weren't afraid to kill.

* * *

Putting the desk in the way of the door would at least give Rafaela some warning, some time in case something tried to get inside. Dan had long ago enforced a rule that she should always be armed, and she held the Particle Magnum to the door on overcharge.

That's what the desk was for, to give her enough time to decide to shoot or not. She just hoped no one realized she was here in this isolated lab because given what she'd heard on the radio before it all went out, whatever was happening was _not_ good. Still, she wasn't going to regret having taken her own lab to be away from the Travelers, She was happy only having her team as visitors, it was safe.

* * *

Tedran was quite happy to stick around on the mainland, Good food, no real stress, and hey, all he was really doing was maintenance on Ancestral technology. Added to some of his people around and little to do but fix and flirt, what was to complain about? The fact that he could wear his bandana and the shorter pants to help with the heat was just the icing on the cake. Now though he felt even luckier, something was happening on Atlantis and he was finally getting a signal through. "This is Tedran to anyone on Atlantis. Do you read?"

Behind Tedran, the Atlanteans were preparing to move out. They had taken anything and everything, armed to the teeth with Particle Weapons, Armor, and even bandoleers of explosives. They were going into war for sure.

Static washed in from Atlantis, and Tedran cried out. "Sheppard! Carter! We've got a signal!"

Immediately the Atlanteans came up to the old control room where now the dozen or so technicians were scrambling about, quickly taking stock of what was going on and coordinating with the two Traveler ships in orbit.

Sheppard and Carter each took a side and the others kept their distance, the image began to clear and Nevas's face was recognizable. He had blood smeared on the side of his face and the sounds of gunfire and battle came behind him. _"Mainland! This is Nevas! Do you read?"_

Tedran hit the two-way communicator switch and looked to Sam and John. "You're on."

Sam spoke first. "Nevas! This is Carter, what's going on!?"

The camera shook, and the visual changed to Nevas spinning and firing his particle magnum. He spun around again and faced the camera. "_We've got hostiles on Atlantis! Olim in that fancy armor! There's at least thirty of em and we're getting picked off! We can't hit the bastards, they're too fast! Some are out in the city just toying with us, but the majority have taken the central section of the city and won't let us get close!"_

John spoke tersely, he was _really_ worried now. "Have they brought reinforcements through the gate?"

The battle behind him seemed to calm down, and Nevas took a few breaths and wiped the side of his face. Blood was getting into his eye. _"No… no that's the strange thing. Nothing's working anymore! I think someone must have hit the lockdown since it's asking me for command codes. Communications are messed and we're just trying to get all the wounded to the hospital." _He took a second to focus, and his voice went low. _"Carter, Radek's hurt, one of my men found him and he'd been shot. We took him to the hospital but I don't know how he is."_

Sam sighed softly in anger, she knew Radek must have intiated the lockdown and silenly prayed for him. "Hold your ground Nevas, we're coming."

Turning again at the sound of a loud pop, Nevas wiped his mouth and spit the blood out. _"Better hurry…"_

* * *

"We can get into Atlantis… but what do we do then?"

Sam and John had grabbed Alicia and Daniel, the ostensible leaders of the group. Everyone else was busy arming up and preparing for combat. Sam looked to the others and quickly laid out her idea. "Nevas said they've got the Alcaeus armor. That means only particle weapons are gonna work and we all know how hard it is to actually _hit_ one of those guys."

Alicia smirked. 'Or girls." The humor helped, it assuaged the fear developing in the back of her head.

Daniel evidently thought so too as he added. "It's true, a lot of the Olim military is actually female. I guess when it's in your culture…"

John gave Daniel a pointed stare.. "Can we forget about how diverse their culture is and focus on _getting them the hell off Atlantis!? "_ He turned to Sam and nodded. "I hope you got something good cuz all I've got is shoot em till they stop moving."

Sam pursed her lips for a moment, it certainly did sound tempting especially after wha happened with the trading. "It's a bit of a long shot, but it'll definitely give us the advantage. If Radek or Larrin managed to get the lockdown going, it'll take them time to break the code. I need to get to the city's main shield emitter room and bring the shields down, make a modification in the programming so that it gives off an electromagnetic pulse, and it should completely nullify their armor."

Alicia raised an eyebrow.. "Nullify?"

Daniel screwed his face in thought. "Uhh… won't that fry everything on Atlantis as well?"

Shrugging, Sam realized that she'd have to explain it. "No, most of our equipment is shielded. Their armor works around an electromagnetic field. We've tried using hand held magnets to counteract it but the field is too strong. We'd need a lot of power to do it. Using Atlantis's shield emitter as a pulse generator though, quite literally it'll strip away their armor. It uhh…" she gulped. "It might even kill them." Daniel noticeably turned away. Alicia and John gave each other one look and agreed. Sam clenched her teeth, and then quietly finished. "Look, if there was another way I'd do it, but they're not going to go peacefully… and Laura had to shoot Aquilina almost a dozen times just to stun her. Radek did some testing on Aleron's armor and he says that on overcharge, it would still take 3 hits to kill them."

Unwilling to remain silent, Daniel muttered. "Then what does one shot do? Or even two? Just hurt them really bad and _put them out of the fight? _These aren't Wraith or Goa'uld, Sam._"_

Sam turned to John and with her facial movements, asked for a moment alone. John understood instantly and pulled Alicia along with him. "Come on, lets get suited up."

Daniel could see that Sam wanted to say something privately, even with the bustling of near-panic travelers around them, he could feel the singularity of this moment. "Well? What is it?"

Keeping her voice controlled, Sam looked up at Daniel. "Remember Apophis coming to Earth?" Sam could see that Daniel got the analogy instantly. "This is my _home_ Daniel… you know how hard it was for me to come here… you _know_ what I gave up." She turned away and bowed her head, Sam hoped that half an explanation would satisfy her old friend that she wasn't just bloodthirsty.

Daniel was surprised, he hadn't seen Sam this passionate in quite awhile and while he liked that Sam was more aware of her feelings, he wasn't sure he liked how the kindness and care he saw in her everyday now was contrasted by this aggressiveness. Daniel wasn't ready to stand against her though, not when the line was so blurry in as far as right and wrong. "Sam…" That's as far as he could go, neither positive nor negative, but at least she knew he was worried about her.

Sam finished her thoughts. "I've never let anyone push me around. If these Olim want to take my home from me, they're going to have to _pay_ for every inch."

* * *

"So this… _Jumper_ is also a _Swimmer?_"

John perked up his eyebrows at the odd phrase. "Uhh you could say that." John merely hoped there wasn't another naming contest when this was over.

Sam wasn't too sure about this Aleron character, he seemed almost aloof in the midst of twelve armed and quite angry people. She wondered what Carson had said about how Aleron could feel their emotions, he certainly didn't act like it. The way he seemed to naturally be on their side given the situation made her even more tense. She'd learned to be cautious, so Aleron would have awhile to earn her trust. "The underwater jumper bay will give us access to the main tower from beneath them. The Jumper won't have any problems getting through the shield so we should be able to get to the auxiliary control room and override the lockdown, as well as make the changes to the shield emitter." She turned to John, and they both silently thought to themselves that it'd only be possible if either of them or Alicia survived. What had happened to Larrin was a question no one wanted to think about.

Teyla had stayed behind to take control of the mainland's resources, and also coordinate with the two Traveler ships in orbit. She was one of the few Pegasus Refugees whom the Travelers agreed to serve in a crisis like this, testament to her years on Atlantis.

Dan was in the back alongside Alicia, Daniel and Ronon. he bowed his head and shifted in the Traveler body armor, a little tight for his frame, but better than nothing. "Anyone feel like we're goin' in and the LZ is hot?"

Alicia gave an exasperated sigh, if anything was proof that she wasn't in a good mood, her vocal annoyance was it. "Just stick close, Carter's plan will work. Just need to keep from getting shot that's all."

Ronon turned his head to both of his former subordinates. "You shoot _them_ first. That's how you stay alive."

Daniel checked the pair of Particle Magnum's he'd appropriated, he was probably the least warrior of all the people on this jumper, including the several Travelers who had volunteered to help out, but even he was realizing that this really was an invasion of his home. "I still don't like not stunning. We don't _have_ to kill them."

To his surprise, Aleron turned from his standing position between the two compartments of the Jumper, the craft itself now descending into the water. "You may not think the same when your target gets up and shoots you in the back. Aquilina was quite specific in her debriefing with Aulus that it took several hits to fully subdue her. If you _don't_ kill them, they _will_ rise and continue fighting."

Dan muttered to himself as he loaded te particle rifle. "Zombies, Aim for the head. Got it."

Daniel gave Dan a less than amicable face, but the Serbian made no sign of relention.

* * *

Laura _desperately_ wanted to get out there and fight. Her blood boiled with rage and she wanted nothing more than to vent with a pair of Particle Rifles in her arms akin to a to what Chuck called the "Schwarzenegger" maneuver using a pair of railguns in _Eraser_. Impractical it may be, but very intimidating.

Instead she was trapped in the goddamn bazaar of all places, using the few wraith stunners the shopkeepers kept for potential thieves.

There was only _one_ of those bastards, but it was _impossible_ to hit him! Whenever someone took a pot shot, he simply moved out of the way and fired back as if it were nothing more than a tennis ball. Laura could almost swear she heard laughing.

Dusty was on the other end of the hallway, trying to draw the Olim in with odd insults and stranger come ons. The Olim merely ignored it.

The few armed people left kept trying to hit this Olim, but he or she seemed to just be teasing his attackers, almost as if he was just trying to keep their attention. The civilians had run, thankfully towards the piers which the Olim were completely ignoring.

Laura and Dusty needed a miracle, or barring that, at least some form of act of some potentially higher being.

* * *

"Alright, You know what to do Major. Don't take any stupid risks, just keep them off our backs long enough for the plan to work. See if you can coordinate with Nevas and any remaining security."

Alicia nodded to Sam, and looked to her three teammates. "Well come on, time to dodge bullets.!" As much as she hated to admit it, this was scaring the life out of her. Aleron and Ronon simply looked to each other and nodded, both ready to fight to the death if need be. "Drake, On my six." What really frightened her was that Dan simply took his position, allowing Ronon and Aleron to take the flanks, both armed with Magnums. She would have killed to hear one of his suggestive quips, even if it was to give him some sexual favor… she just wanted some normalcy.

Aleron spun the weapon around his wrist. "I would not think such a small weapon capable of such damage." He admired the workmanship, obviously he was quite smitten.

Ronon muttered as the group left the underwater jumper bay, heading up to one of the piers to try and get in contact with the security forces. "I've killed more than a thousand Wraith with one of them."

Aleron gave a soft incredulous sound. "I see…"

Oh yeah, Alicia was _definitely_ not feeling good about this plan.

* * *

John kept his head down and moved forward, Sam was right beside him, the particle rifle up and ready to fire. Daniel trailed behind covering their six, the dull opaque armor the Travelers used likely wouldn't hold up against Gauss weaponry, but it would definitely give them some protection against shrapnel or ricochets.

The sounds of fighting up above them warned the trio that they were about to see action. John suddenly felt something, it was just at the back of his head but he quickly looked to Sam and held up his hand in a stop fist.

Sam stopped, and put her back to the wall. She sensed danger ahead as well and she gave Daniel and the three Travelers with them the signal to stop too.

John held up his hand and made a few motions, he was going to flank around. Sam felt an edge of offense that he was taking control of the 'squad', but she relented to his better knowledge of Atlantis. He _had_ singlehandedly fought off an entire invasion before, and Sam couldn't help but feel reassured that he was here.

The Travelers took positions at the side, and John gave the motions with his hand and fist for them to move out in one minute. The Travelers nodded, their training with USAF and Marine tactics giving them the knowledge to interpret. John slowly moved away, out into one of the side passages towards the stairs,

The waiting hurt, and Sam could hear battle cries above as well as gauss and particle weapon fire. She took calm breaths and finally after a minute, motioned the others to follow.

Her rifle was raised, the entire squad on alert. Where John had gone was a mystery but Sam knew he wasn't far.

They'd just gotten to the section right before the stairs that would lead up to the floor beneath the shield emitter room. Sam was at least thankful that they didn't have a huge distance to go.

Not too surprisingly, John's little _'Spidey'_ sense seemed to be accurate as four Olim in Alcaeus armor suddenly materialized in front of them, their stealth modes deactivating. Sam could have sworn she'd seen a strange buzz around them before they materialized but it was too late to be sure. They looked so odd, their armor creating a completely smooth surface with only a few imperfections around their internal wetware.

They all had gauss rifles and were in two groups, the one who seemed in charge stepped forward. "Surrender primate, and we'll let you li…"

Just as he finished his sentence, the sound of a Particle Rifle firing on full auto rang out, and the group raised their weapons and fired.

The Olim were caught off guard as John jumped down from the catwalk above, two fired their weapons with snap shots, narrowly missing the falling Lieutenant Colonel.

On overcharge, the energy from the particle shots enveloped the Olim, interfering with the magnetic fields surrounding them. One of the Travelers screamed as he took a gauss shot to the leg, tearing a chunk out of his calf.

Three more seconds and all four Olim were down. Dead from the energy from the overcharged particle shots washing over their bodies. Daniel grimaced seeing the four encased bodies on the ground and quickly moved over to the wounded Traveler, instantly horrified at the extent of the injury. "He needs a doctor _now!"_

Unwilling to give up their mission, but seeing that the Traveler was going to die without help, Sam nodded to Daniel and motioned one of the other Travelers who looked a little green from the sudden action. "Go! Take him to the infirmary. Move move move!"

The other Traveler, the one who had held it together despite the terror from the failed ambush looked to John who now groaned as he got up off the floor. He'd hit the ground hard but rolling had saved him a lot of pain. "Let's keep going. The sooner this is over the better."

Sam found she couldn't disagree.


	51. Deja Vu Second Third

"They're close. I can… _feel_ them."

Alicia grimaced, and wondered what it would be like to feel the thoughts and emotions of those around her. "Where?"

Aleron turned his head around, as if listening with more than just his ears. "Close… ahead… two of them." He suddenly scoffed. "They know we're here… _Korpius."_

Ronon instantly went on guard, his magnum up and ready to fire. Dan had taken cover as well and mused. "Korpa-_what?"_

Aleron turned to Alicia, and he spoke severely. "I can't stay. They'll know we're coming as they can sense me. Clear your minds and think of nothing but your surroundings. I'll draw them away."

Alicia raised her eyebrows and nearly barked as she leveled her rifle. "Oh no! I still don't trust you no matter _what_ you say! How do I know you're not just going to _join_ them and tell them our plan?"

To her surprise, Ronon stepped in front of Alicia's dropped barrel and shook his head. "Kill me, _then_ you kill him."

Shocked by Ronon's implicit trust, Alicia took a few seconds to recover and then lowered her weapon. "You just signed your life away Aleron. You betray us, and what I'd do to you is a mercy compared to him."

Ronon smiled, and turned to Aleron who simply shrugged and flicked the particle magnum he had to overcharge. "I see."

* * *

The city was everything Aquilina had envisioned in her mind. Truly a spectacle the likes of which only the reverie of night could bring. The way the towers scraped against the sky, the twinkling of lights from a hundred dozen people milling about, unknowing of the potential that lay beneath their feet.

Infidels and squatters, the Progenitors themselves would think them nothing more than vile vermin. A few perhaps could evolve, and in ten thousand years perhaps they would reach a point where the majesty of this place would not be lost on them. But that wasn't now, and the Shade would wait for no man.

There was one among them now though, and Aquilina had to struggle to concentrate, She could feel him, he was with the primates assisting them. Aquilina had fallen in love with Atlantis as soon as she stepped out onto the balcony, overseeing where the troops under her command would go.

Strict orders had been given, corral them, impede them, and gain access to any technology the city may have. It was likely the Atlanteans would regroup soon and attack using their stolen ancestral technology, only a weapon devised by a Progenitor would possible be able to defeat the Alcaeus armor. Holding the city was not the plan, but a nice bonus should it happen.

No, Aquilina had come here for one reason, to make her brother see reason… and if not. To stop him before he damned himself any further. By any means necessary.

* * *

Rushing into a half garden, half walkway, John laid covering fire as the rest of his team moved through. At least this time the battle was already in action, and it seemed the Travelers were holding their own despite the odds. One of the Olim was holding the main passageway between the pier and the central area where the Auxiliary control room was, standing on top of the walkway as if he owned the place, easily dodging any incoming fire. John and Daniel both fired covering fire allowing Sam and the Traveler to cross the hallway towards them.

Sam popped her head up and fired a burst of suppressive fire. John and Daniel both moved through quickly in a grasshopper maneuver, one covering the other as they jumped sequentially forward. The Traveler left with them held back to cover their flank.

Atlantis's corridors didn't provide much in the way of cover beyond the odd divot in the walls, but it worked well enough to get through. John saw a Traveler he recognized and crouch ran over to him under Sam's cover. "_Roland! Sitrep!"_

Roland snarled as he saw the one Olim bastard holding his entire squad at bay, and fired another burst hoping to take him down. The shots were deftly dodged, and a moment later a gauss shot landed a little too close for comfort. _"Bastards are fast! Can't hit him!"_

John realized the problem, the Particle weapons were quite a bit slower than bullets so the Armor's sensory package was enough for a skilled person to dodge incoming fire… at least as far as Rafaela could guess from studying Aleron in his armor. That meant there was only one way to defeat this Olim who stood between them and their objective. "_Get ready! Full barrage!"_

Roland nodded, and tapped his wrist communicator. "_Everyone! Wait for the signal to fire! Full auto!"_

John was never more glad that at least some of the Travelers had taken combat training. He wondered how everyone else in the city was doing.

* * *

"_More pressure! I need to make sure this artery is sealed!"_

Carson's screams were just barely above the cacophony around him, It had happened so suddenly that he was caught off guard, but luckily most of the medical staff he'd been training were sharp enough to come to the hospital to help. Travelers and Settlers alike were wounded and screaming, the gauss weaponry did horrible things even in a glancing blow.

The Settler below him had been shot in the leg, and it was only a sheer force of will that was keeping her alive. Kraya shuddered uncontrollably as she held her fingers down where the arteries in the leg were while Carson stabilized her, already preparing for the next case.

There was little to do but stabilize them and pray to any gods that would listen that they survived until better medical care was possible, but with so many wounded, Carson was finding himself having to simply give them the best chance for life; comfort would have to wait. His eyes dripped tears silently, his mind too focused to bother with sobbing.

Reyna was off to the side, tying a tourniquet on the arm of one Traveler who had taken a severe arm wound as he sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. He wept in agony and delayed shock, Reyna herself crying her eyes out as she worked to keep him alive, her mouth silent in stark contrast as her hands trembled in an odd sense of rage and horror.

Carson had never served as a doctor in war, but he had no doubts in his mind that this is what it was.

Hell.

* * *

Alicia fired off a few shots and started yelling. "Hey! Come catch the monkey!"

She _hated_ playing the rabbit, but since she _was_ the fastest out of her team, it was only logical. The sound of a gauss projectile punching a hole through the wall beside her as she fell back and fired randomly was quite terrifying.

The thought of being hit with such a weapon was _more_ than enough to make Alicia pray, not that it really took that much anymore. She dove headfirst into the next hallway, rolling around to face her attackers as she hit the ground and pointing her weapon up.

The Olim soldier following her leaned out, supposedly using cover while tracking her. Little did he realize that he'd just stepped into a crossfire as Ronon jumped down from above using a pair of Particle Magnums to put him down, the armor acting as a conductor for the energy pulses.

The other Olim, seeing what happened aimed a snap shot towards Ronon, and exposed his back to Dan who'd been hiding behind a large potted plant. The ambushers quickly became the ambushed as they played on what they know about the Olim. The superiority complex could be a great bait.

* * *

The Olim likely saw it all coming, and realized that there was nothing he could do. John watched as the massive wave of Particle shots rained down around him in a torrential firestorm

There was no escaping or dodging this. A dozen particle rifles on automatic meant that the Olim took much more than the requisite three shots to take down. John could have sworn he heard a scream, but knew it was impossible given the armor that still covered the Olim and only transmitted sound when the speakers were engaged.

It was eerie, the particle shots merely used the Trinium and electromagnetic field as a conductor leaving the armor itself intact. The prone body on the floor, not moving anymore yet emitting smoke from the boiled Trinium. John didn't look forward to the aftermath of this battle..

Splitting from the Traveler fire team who now moved ahead as well as sending their wounded to the infirmary, John, Sam and Daniel all entered the shield emitter room. John and Daniel covered the exit while Sam got to work.

* * *

Aleron approached with no hate in his mind. At least with none discernable. He focused on his family, on his people, and the struggle they had to endure in this galaxy.

Korpius had obviously noticed him as well, and didn't move. Aleron didn't have his armor with him but he knew it was pointless. The EMP they were going to fire was likely going to shred the life out of every Olim with their armor engaged.

He only prayed that Aquilina wasn't among these. "Korpius."

The armored Olim said nothing, but disengaged his armor as he and Aleron faced off in the large storage room. "Aleron."

A friendly rivalry, that's all it was. The Centaurions and Falecians always ended up like this. Polar opposites in beliefs and values. Korpius usually won though, and that was part of what worried Aleron. "What are you doing here?"

Korpius shrugged his shoulders. "I could ask you the same. You should hear the stories told of you."

Now circling each other, Korpius dropped his armor pack onto the ground. Aleron mused as he prepared himself to fight. "Really? Any worse than the ones I've heard of you?" He motioned to the armor pack on the ground. "You're willing to be on equal ground? Impressive."

Korpius again shrugged. "We've always been equals Ally, except now we are opposites as well." He stopped, and then motioned back towards the area he'd been blocking. "I see no reason to fight you. Follow me and I will take you to speak with Menalus. Perhaps you can be made to see reason."

Taking any chance he could to prevent bloodshed, Aleron nodded and waved with his hand. "Feel free." He kept his gun holstered, also noticing that Korpius didn't let go of his gun either. This was likely a trap, but Aleron would be willing to risk it if it meant he could warn Aquilina

* * *

The fighting was growing more intense, and Sam monitored the life signs detector built into Atlantis as she unlocked systems for the Travelers to use. The biggest boon was the transporters, being able to move quickly across Atlantis was allowing them to box in the Olim no matter where they struck. John himself felt antsy that he wasn't out there with them fighting.

The Olim now numbered twenty seven, it was easy to track them from the huge energy signature their armor created. But the majority were defending the outer sections of the control room, only five actually out roaming with another seven inside the gate room area itself.

John looked over the map and gave commands to the Travelers now that communications were back up. Controlling it all was at least something he could do while Sam reoriented the crystals of the shield matrix to emit an electromagnetic pulse.

And that's when he got a really bad idea, the kind that he'd be more than willing to do if the opportunity struck.

* * *

"You want us to do _what?!"_

Over the radio, John's annoyance was clear. "_It'll be simple, Transport to the penthouse, tie off a rope and jump."_

Ronon grunted, and then he looked to Dan. "I'll cover you, go!"

Dan sighed and shifted in his position crouched behind a fallen table, It wouldn't serve well for cover, but it kept him out of sight as the other Travelers around them continued to distract the Olim soldier jumping around and firing back. "Guess it's just you and me Leesh. Ever rappelled before?"

Alicia quirked her face and silently cursed everyone around her. Dammit she was a pilot and soldier! She was supposed to fly _in _the air, not _fall through_ it! "No, but if I die I'm haunting your ass."

* * *

"Are you serious?"

Sam was incredulous, John's voice was calm. "Seven of em in the control room. If this _doesn't_ kill them all, then the security team that goes in could use flanking support."

Sam grimaced. "I hope it works… because it's a long drop from the main tower." She turned back to the shield emitter console and now prepared the program to fire the EMP. "This'll take another five minutes. Tell our people to get ready since it'll probably give them a headache."

Turning to Daniel, who was still at the door watching for any potential attack, John mused. "Well… commence Operation: This cannot end well."

* * *

"Foolish boy. Don't you understand? This place is the only chance for salvation."

Aleron stared ahead to Menalus, who to his shock had taken off his armor and now walked like he owned this place. "This place does not belong to us. But they were willing to peaceably work with us." Calm, he would either die now or the EMP would give him a chance. Menalus was old, and it wouldn't be difficult to break his neck.

The four others in armor besides Korpius who stood behind him all protected Menalus though; one false move and they'd break Aleron in half. Menalus replied tersely. "These people have the intelligence of a primate in a tree. All this technology around them, ships that have lasted hundreds of years, they _waste_ their time here while we could rebuild the civilization of the Alterra. Rebuild… _perfection._"

It had always bugged Aleron to hear that in temple. He made his annoyance known. "We are _not_ Alterra. You know this."

Scoffing, Menalus waved off the accusation. "From what Doctor Jackson has told me, we are the closest thing."

Something was wrong, Menalus was acting very confident in himself and apart from that…. He was _twitching_. Something had severely bothered the man and even his emotions felt strange. "What has _happened_ to you? Where is the man who gave me my first command?"

Visibly angered, Menalus pointed at Aleron. "_Where is the young man who swore to live and die for the Olim!?" _Now ignoring him, Menalus motioned behind him and waved someone else closer. "Come! We will be leaving soon."

Aleron instantly bristled, she'd been forcing her thoughts down, much like he'd told the others. She must have been in deep concentration to have hidden from him. Now walking up to him, her armor covering everything but her head, the form fitting armor making her look larger than she really was. Aleron knew there were only minutes, perhaps less, until the EMP fired. He had no idea what the effect would be but it certainly wouldn't be a good one. "You face me like I am your enemy. Stand before me as my sister, not a Primus Locagos."

Aquilina was a little surprised by Aleron's words, she mused as she handed a case off to Menalus who now moved off towards the Stargate. "You _are _my enemy. You stood before me on our own homelands and struck me aside. This place…"

Aleron scoffed and turned away. "I do not wish to see you come to harm, but if you do not leave this place. You _will_ die."

He could feel the amusement of those around him, obviously they didn't believe him. Aquilina chuckled to herself. "I was caught unawares once by these primates, I could have killed them all before that happened but I followed orders to limit contact. I have no such orders now."

Aleron could see that Aquilina was assured of herself. The stubborn… "Then do me one favor before you do to me whatever this band of thugs you call comrades have in mind."

She was still his sister, and time was running out. "A favor? What could I possibly do for you now? Father is already facing exile, I survive because unlike _you, _ I can make my own decisions." She still softened her features. "I am not without heart though. What do you wish?"

The Astria Porta behind them activated, and Aleron now knew that Menalus had run away, he'd gotten whatever he was after and in moments he and the rest would likely follow. "Let me see you as you truly are. No armor, no masks, let me see the sister I love."

He was getting through to her, and as the lights now flickered around them, Aleron knew that what was coming was going to hurt. _A lot._

* * *

_"GO! I'll cover you!"_

Dan rolled to the side, dangerously close to the edge of the roof as he fired on the Olim who'd somehow found them there. He fired a burst keeping the Olim on the stairs, unable to go up and strike at them.

The hope was that using the city's transporter, the Olim in the control room wouldn't realize that they had enemies above them as well. But the Olim seemed determined to get to them, and now only Alicia had her rope tied off. "Dan!"

Dan fired his rifle on full auto, suppressing the Olim, but for how long was anyone's guess. "_Fucking go!"_ Each red bolt sent a burst of light, turning Dan's visage into an almost demonic glower

Alicia did _not_ like leaving him alone up there, but Sam had just given the signal that the EMP was about to go. It'd likely only take a few seconds to rappel down, that is if she didn't crush herself in the fall. She did Dan the favor of tossing her Particle Rifle over to him behind the small cover he had, at least giving him one last half full clip.

Biting her lips, and now praying that Dan wasn't making his last stand in her defense, Alicia jumped off the roof of the main tower in Atlantis back first watching as Dan rolled to the side picking up her rifle, one in each arm now. She used her feet to control her descent against the wall, a sturdy rope the only thing holding her up. The belay device she'd secured from the armory worked well to her relief, but she noticed even as she fell from that height that her eyes were moist as she blinked them clear.

* * *

Dusty was in trouble, the Olim was approaching her, obviously now annoyed by her taunting. He deftly dodged shot after shot but it was pointless. He was going to make it to Dusty and he was going to kill her.

Laura wasn't going to let it happen without a fight, so she took a deep breath and jumped out with her gun firing.

Just as she did though, a wave of _something_ pushed through the hallway, instantly picking up the Olim soldier off the ground and flinging him up into the air.

He screamed as he flew up and into the ceiling with enough force to actually dent the metal of Atlantis's alloys. He remained there for a few moments, shrieking in agony as the armor seemed to recede and grow smaller, almost like it were being mashed from below.

The screams stopped, and the Olim fell to the ground, his armor dissolving and shattering on impact. Laura grimaced seeing a rather large amount of blood seeping out now, the Olim somehow crushed to death in his own armor that was now as brittle as burnt paper.

The Travelers and Settlers around, all panicked from the assault now ran as the way had become clear. Laura looked to Dusty and deadpanned. "Remind me never to piss _you_ off."

Dusty covered her mouth in disgust at what was left of the Olim, and then replied. "Even _I_ don't wish I did that."


	52. Deja Vu Third Third

The wave had passed through the entire city and any Olim still wearing their armor had either been flung off into the murky ocean beneath, or crushed to death against Atlantis's very walls. Sam felt sick, she'd defended her home and killed thousands in one stroke before, but the sheer brutality of this weapon forced her to lock her emotions down. She forgot everything except the anger. The anger would keep her going.

John could see the lack of emotion on Sam's face, the way she simply shut down, it worried him but then he realized that to survive this, he was going to have to do the same.

Daniel simply wished his best friends weren't the hardcore soldiers he knew they were, and being those hardcore soldiers, he knew they'd head straight for the control room.

* * *

Consciousness was a finicky thing. Thankfully, the guard who had suddenly been lifted into the air and smashed against the ceiling had only clipped Aleron, not full on struck him.

Aquilina had been thrown as well, but with her armor receding she'd only been tossed up to the catwalk near the balcony.

Aleron could feel the pain of those around him, two Olim, one he loved, and one he felt an odd camaraderie with.

Korpius had only been disoriented by the EMP as he hadn't been wearing his armor, and now he stood and looked at his dead comrades. "_Treachery_! What… what have you _done_ Aleron!?"

Aleron got up, his head spinning but knowing that he was about to fight for his life. "What my conscious tells me, what's _right,_ not what's _best!_"

Now facing off, Korpius snarled at Aleron. "You've killed your own men, _what kind of loyalty is that?!"_

Clenching his fists, Aleron got into the combat stance Ronon had taught him. Now enraged Aleron screamed "_Loyalty to ones self! I won't stand by and watch you murder these people!"_

_"Then die like them!"_ Korpius screamed as he jumped forward.

Above them, Aquilina recovered from the strange attack and groaned as she got up. The Astria Porta was still active, it would remain active given the properties of the portable device Menalus had used. Did he anticipate this? Is that why he left?

Now looking down in the Porta room, she saw Aleron and Korpius in a frenzied battle, blocking, striking and crying out in pain as their limbs connected.

Aquilina had just taken a step forward to assist. Whom she'd help she didn't really know at this point, when a hand came down on her shoulder. It was so unexpected that Aquilina reacted instantly with a backhand strike.

Before she connected, the distinct feel of hard knuckles smashed into her cheek, she reeled back from the shock, but at the same time her own strike connected. A clatter was heard, and even as Aquilina fell, she heard a woman curse.

Getting back up, Aquilina unsheathed her small three inch hunting knife, now ready to fight whomever it was. The woman was on her side, stunned from her blow, as she got up and saw Aquilina preparing to strike, she rolled to her feet revealing her face. It was the same woman who she'd played with during their initial contact, and she unsheathed her own larger combat knife as she snarled. "_Ohhh _I'm gonna _enjoy_ killin' you." Her face was bleeding, the strike must have done more damage than Aquilina had been expecting.

For some reason, the armor pack wasn't working anymore. The Atlanteans must have used some of the Alterran technology to render it useless, no matter, Aquilina was quite proficient in defending herself by hand and now nothing was holding her back. "Your grave will mark my superiority for all your primate friends."

Alicia wiped her face clean of her blood, the bitch had hit her hard enough to Alicia's teeth to cut into her mouth. With the Particle Magnum she had now flung to the side in the punch, Alicia felt like kicking herself for not shooting first. She got into a combat stance and hissed. "_Soy la angel de tu muerte."_

No more words, and as Korpius and Aleron fought below, Aquilina and Alicia began to fight above.

Aleron jumped up and lashed out with his clenched fist, Korpius dodged the obvious attack and struck back, neither shot connecting but clearly tiring both men out. This wasn't like the sparring sessions they'd had before, a test of both mental clarity and physical endurance. Korpius was trying to kill him. With a rushing move, Korpius lunged ahead and feinted an attack, Aleron fell back, now climbing up the stairs to the control room.

Alicia and Aquilina traded martial arts moves, both trying to control the other's knife hand. Alicia flicked her wrist and managed to slice a little into Aquilina's shoulder, the Olim reacting by spinning around and giving Alicia's arm a similar nick. Neither hit was life threatening, but now blood spilled down onto the floor.

In the control room, Aleron had fallen back seeing how his particle magnum had been lost in the scuffle and in hand to hand he didn't think he could beat Korpius. With a Banto rod though… He dodged a kick and vaulted over a console, Korpius following him. Aleron fought to keep his thoughts clear and focused, not worrying about what a zealot Korpius could really be.

Alicia was having her own problems, now finding that even though she was faster than Aquilina, the Olim soldier definitely had much more practice at sparring and was a _hell_ of a lot stronger. Alicia found herself ducking and weaving a lot more than fighting back, and now prayed that Dan found his way down sooner rather than later for the backup.

At that moment, Aleron feinted a retreat in the control room and managed to connect a blow to Korpius' midsection, the Falecian retaliating with a glancing blow to Aleron's head. Still retreating, Aleron found that he'd run out of space and had a balcony behind him to the gate room below. Korpius was just too fast and too strong, and even worse, he knew all of Aleron's moves.

That left only one option, and Aleron was hoping that Korpius wouldn't catch onto the trick he'd seen in the cartoon the Atlantean called Chuck seemed to enjoy. Then again Korpius did seem to resemble the bull, and what was it Chuck called it, an anvil?

Feinting a last stand, Aleron held his fists out and to the side, ready to absorb any blow, and goading Korpius.

The enraged Olim growled and lashed out with a low kick, enough so that if he missed, he'd hit the guard rail and not fall off.

But that's exactly what Aleron wanted, and grabbing Korpius' leg, he spun him around and smacked him into the pillar of the window to that separated the control room and the gate room. Korpius hadn't been expecting the brawl-like maneuver, but he still fought back, and the judoesque move quickly turned into a close range brawl.

Pushing her into the conference room, Alicia rolled over the table and took a quick breather. Okay… maybe Aquilina was better than she'd expected, but that didn't mean she was going to give up. She dodged to the left after a failed strike that had Aquilina land next to her, and then vaulted over the table again, now facing Aquilina from outside. The Olim growled and muttered. "You merely delay the inevitable. Yield and I shall make it quick."

Alicia wasn't looking for _any_ kind of death, let alone a quick one. "Bring it, _puta_."

Still fighting over control of the other, Aleron finally had the upperhand, with Korpius' leg under one of his arms, Aleron reached with his other arm and picked up the man like a rucksack. It may have been a bit brutal, but throwing him from the balcony was the only way now.

Korpius wrapped his arms around Aleron's neck though and began to squeeze, he wasn't letting go anytime sson. Feeling the blood and air constricting in his head, Aleron finally snapped and struck out.

Aleron raised Korpius onto the guard rail and used it as a fulcrum against which be brought his right elbow down with all the force left in him. The strike connected instantly numbing Aleron's arm, but at the same time a loud crack was heard, mere milliseconds before Korpius's scream of agony from the broken leg. But even so, Korpius didn't give up, and as he fell back over the guard rail, his hands clawed at Aleron's face.

Sudden anguish and the sight of red made Aleron buck and finish throwing Korpius, he fell to the ground clutching his face as the sudden intense pain blinded him, deafened him and at the same time, the feel of pure ecstasy the endorphin release in his brain made Aleron very light headed. Trying to force open his eyes, Aleron found that only his right eye was working properly, and even more, his hands were quickly stained with the dull rusty red of his own blood from the facial wound.

He could feel fear though, but it wasn't his, and it wasn't Korpius'. Korpius almost seemed to have left, likely crawled through the Astria Porta as injured as he was. No, it was Aquilina, and from the feeling, she was either in danger, or about to kill. Neither of which Aleron was quite pleased with. How much time had passed? He didn't know for a fact anymore, the pain had given him a strange sense of time and for all he knew, it had been seconds or days.

Banishing the pain, yet still trembling involuntarily, Aleron clawed up the wall to his feet, his blood leaving a smear on the wall as his hands grasped for a hold. He could _taste_ the misted blood in his mouth, his face likely nothing but a red smear, but Aquilina was his _sister_.. nothing was going to stop him from keeping her from damning herself.

In the conference room, Alicia had an idea but it was dangerous, as long as she could disorient Aquilina for a few moments, she could retrieve the Particle Magnum she had dropped earlier that lay next to one of the open doorways. She held her knife ready, and lunged forward with a low sweep. Aquilina reacted and vaulted across the table. With a deft move, she caught Alicia's hand and swung her around. Alicia felt sudden terror as knew this move, and pure instinct had her raise her one unfettered arm up and across her chest to where Aquilina was undoubtedly bringing down her own knife.

The blade nicked her arm again, this time deeper along the side, Alicia cried out as she flexed her arm and tried to block the hit, succeeding as far as her chest, but then screamed in agony as the blade dug into the flesh of her leg, now stuck to her like a pin.

Primal rage and fear of dying pushed Alicia's adrenaline to a boil, and she brought the same hand she'd blocked with back up in an elbow strike, she heard and felt the satisfying sound of Aquilina's face getting smacked hard, and in the same move slashed her own knife across Aquilina's face.

The blade caught her across the jaw on the left side of her face, a quick spurt of blood seeping out as she fell back across the table and then to the floor from the surprise snap attack.

It was now or never, and Alicia bit her lip so hard it bled as she limped back, and fell to the floor keeping her stabbed leg straight. She struggled not to cry out as her jaw trembled from the pain, and finally she reached the gun. Alicia gripped the magnum and spun, her aim shaky and her vision blurry.

Pulling herself up, Alicia saw Aquilina's shocked expression as she stared down the barrel of the magnum, blood still seeping from her cut jaw line. Alicia pushed off the wall and got a better angle, Aquilina now frozen catatonically. "Not bad for a '_monkey'_ huh? Hope you like the highway to hell, _bitch_."

As she switched to overcharge, Alicia suddenly felt an arm come around her neck, slippery and yet very strong. _"Pull that trigger and you can go with her."_

The voice was shaky, and obviously in great pain, but she recognized it instantly. "Aleron… you _goddamn_ _bastard_. I shoulda killed you." Alicia felt like crying, here she was, wounded and ready to kill, but this Olim asshole had shown his true colors and now he was betraying them.

Aquilina became horrified as she looked at them. "Aleron! _What… What are…!?"_

Aleron's voice grew to horrific levels. "_You shame the Olim! You shame yourself! And if you have ANY sense of self-preservation, you'll go through the Porta while I still feel mercy! Korpius has already fled, you are alone! Do NOT die for this!"_

Alicia was still in the stranglehold, she could hardly breath but at the same time, she could still hear the anguish in Aleron's voice, both physical and emotional. Did they know each other? "You should listen to him, because if I _ever_ see you again, I don't care if I die. As long as you go down too."

Aquilina's hand came up to her face, bloodied from the two inch long laceration, She had tears in her eyes as she moved forward. "_Ronny_…"

To Alicia's surprise, Aleron's hands switched and the one formerly holding her neck went to her gunhand, coated with the dull red of blood even as it wrenched the weapon from her hand. _"Run or die! You've shamed me and I don't care anymore! Run or I'll send you to to the Frozen Wasteland myself!" _To show he was serious, he fired a single shaky shot to the chair next to Aquilina, the overcharge mode easily punching a hole through the relatively thin alloy toppling it to the ground in a disgusting smelling smoke.

Aquilina seemed to believe him, and with one hand on her face wound, the other holding her leg, she seemed to hold back sobs as she limped away.

Aleron controlled Alicia throughout the whole movement, Dragging her forward with the gun pointing at Aquilina. Alicia could feel a pulpy wetness on her neck and creeping into her clothing. The hard breathing and evident pain Aleron was in scared her, but she was too weak and wounded to fight back. They stood at the balcony, the gun still wobbly as Aquilina finally crossed the gateroom and entered the stargate, the wormhole shutting a few moments after.

Alicia finally spoke again, confused but still enraged. "Your _girlfriend_?"

All Aleron replied with was. "No." and he let Alicia go, throwing the particle magnum to the gate room below.

He turned and faced away from Alicia, one hand on his face, the other holding the guard rail for support. Alicia limped forward, unsure if she was going to kill him or try and get some help.

Before she could make it to him though, he took a few ragged breaths before buckling and falling to the floor in a crumpled heap. Alicia nearly gagged as she saw the damage, the left side of his face was nothing but a red splotch, his tolerance for pain must have been through the roof to have been able to maintain _any_ level of coherence with that injury.

Finally succumbing to the anguish of the moment herself, Alicia fought to control the tears. None of the technicians were around, what had happened to them was a mystery. Aleron lay possibly dead on the floor in front of her, and gods knew who else was dead or wounded.

Falling to the floor, Alicia leaned against the guardrail, softly and almost imperceptibly sobbing at the level of death that had happened in the past thirty minutes. It was like that that Dan found her, and his astonishment over the amount of blood and broken bodies of the Olim soldiers threatened to crack even his cool exterior. In the end, Dan simply shut it down and pulled out his radio. "This is Drake, gate room is secure. Need medical assistance _now._"

* * *

Sam entered the control room, a little disturbed by the amount of blood on the walls and floor, but knowing that she had to keep a cool head. John and Daniel both covered her, along with Dusty and Laura whom they'd met up with along the way. The Olim were gone, and the injured were being tended. The dead were counted and put in the morgue, Sam could only imagine what Carson and Reyna along with the rest of the medical staff must have been going through.

John had coordinated with everyone he could get in touch with, and with the command codes now reactivated, all the city's systems cam back online. But the news he was getting _wasn't_ good, and he almost wanted to keep it from Sam, leave the anguish for later. But seeing her working without expression on the console in the gateroom, unlocking the command system to run a full diagnostic of the city, John knew he had to. "Sam."

Looking up at him, Sam nodded. "What is it?"

Around them, Traveler technicians struggled to come to grips with the situation, they'd taken the city back, but the damage was intense. Consoles were smashed, the smell of burning conduit and wiring was everywhere, but even worse was the aura of death that now surrounded this place, everyone had seen their share of the horror of the battle, and the Travelers felt the brunt of the hit.

John kept his voice down, now moving to stand beside Sam. "It's bad… of the two hundred security we had, half are wounded, maybe a third of those critically. Few dozen KIA." He sighed, his lips now trembling. "That's not the worst of it though, Radek…" rubbing his face, John found it hard to be here again. "…they put him in stasis. He took a shot to the stomach and it broke his spine. Only reason he's even alive is Nevas' men heard the shot and charged in. Carson thinks they might be able to save him if they have the time and resources, but it won't be anytime soon."

Sam simply heard it and acknowledged it, grief would come later, _everything_ would have to come later. "And Larrin?"

John shook his head, he refrained from grimacing at the way a Traveler guard kicked one of the dead Olim before dragging his crushed body away. He wanted to join the Traveler in his rage, but being at the top meant he had to be an example; his calm self, despite the fury he felt would help those around him to keep control, to keep from making rash decisions. "Missing. Think she's been kidnapped."

Sam nodded, obviously agreeing. "Nevas said the ship that came down was the _Sobek_, that's why they let it land. If they've captured the crew…"

John resisted gulping. "…Then they know how many ships we have…"

"…and how powerful they are…"

"…And we know that they're a credible threat now… somehow they took _Sobek._" John's words cut deep, and seeing Sam on the edge of despair, he couldn't help it anymore and clenched his fist hard enough for his nails to cut into his palm. "I recalled Marks. Rafaela's still a little shaken up but she says that the subspace transmitter isn't strong enough to get more than a recall message to him."

Sam winced softly, She knew Rafaela from back in the SGC and this wasn't the kind of situation she was used to. "How is she? How are _all_ of our people?"

John listed them off one by one, forcing himself to remain objective. Sam was just about done running the diagnostic and they'd know what kind of damage the Olim had done. "Most of _our_ people other than Radek are okay." He emphasized _our_ to signal people from Earth. "Rafaela stayed put in her lab, didn't even see any action, she doesn't seem too bad. Chuck got knocked around a bit but he's okay, broken arm or something. Alicia got stabbed in the leg but Carson says a week or three and she'll be fine. Dusty and Laura were pinned down in the market but we blew the EMP just in time. Everyone else is pretty much okay but shaken up."

Sam gulped, the first sign that she was very close to breaking. "And Aleron?"

John winced, if they'd had any doubts as to his loyalty, this certainly proved it. "Bad, Carson says he's got a fifty-fifty chance of pulling through if he can stop the bleeding. He lost his left eye and a lot of blood." John didn't say what he wanted to about trust though, instead he now paid attention to Sam as she gasped. "What? What is it?"

Sam couldn't believe it. The readings _had_ to be wrong. There was no way the Olim could have known! Unless… "Have we found any of the technicians from the control room?"

John shook his head. "No… can't find em anywhere. Including Larrin, that's eight people missing… Why?"

With horror on her face, Sam turned to John amidst the chaos going on around them, and she silently whispered so only he heard. "_We're missing two ZPMs too."_

* * *

**To be continued in the action packed and mindblowing Season 2 Premiere of…**

**Stargate: Dark Frontier.**

**NOTE TO ALL READERS:** Season 2 will be a new "Story" on this site. Make sure to either subscribe to the C2 Archive by following my author link, or when it comes out, update your Story Alerts so you can get updates. I'm taking a few weeks off to catch up on my studies, but Season 2 will be even more action packed and dive head first into adventure and the mystery of Hoag's Object.

I am also working on a Wikia page for this series. Here is the link so you can catch up with the entire series. Simply replace the (COLON) and (DOT) respectively.

http(COLON)//sg-darkfrontier(DOT)wikia(DOT)com/wiki/Stargate:_Dark_Frontier_Wiki

There are summaries of all the Episode of UniSin and Dark Frontier, Artwork, Wallpapers, as well as race and character sheets (Character Sheets still not finished) Feel free to share it with friends to spread the word.

Many thanks to **IceMenace, Neela, Choo1701, **and **Alx** for their continual support and assistance with this series :D


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